Bill Galvin can’t say for certain whether primary ballots will take longer to count
"I’m hopeful it’s not going to delay the process in any extraordinary way."
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With an already large number of ballots returned to local officials, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin said Monday he could not say for certain whether tallying Tuesday’s primary elections votes will take longer than for previous races.
Over 850,000 voters have cast their ballots so far, according to Galvin, who maintained though those votes will not be processed until after polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
In most cities and towns, votes will be counted in typical fashion by precinct. But under state law, Galvin’s office has given local officials the latitude to create a centralized, mail-in ballot tallying location in town and city halls, he said.
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On the eve of the anticipated, historic election, Galvin told reporters he could not say whether the operation will slow the process of determining unofficial results Tuesday night.
He hopes the counting will be finished by Wednesday morning.
“I’m hopeful it’s not going to delay the process in any extraordinary way,” he said. “It is more complicated. It is very cumbersome because we have a great amount of paper that’s already been received.
“We’re going to protect the confidentiality of voters, and we’re going to make sure that in no case are their selections available to anybody to review,” he added. “We’re going to co-mingle the ballots to make sure that’s the case.”
Voters still looking to submit the ballots mailed to them must deposit them at a drop box or at their local election office before polls close, Galvin said.
Ballots cannot be brought to polling places for submission, according to Galvin’s office. Those who do will be directed to either bring the ballot to the proper location or to “spoil” the mail-in ballot and vote in-person, officials said.
Any voter who requested a vote-by-mail ballot but did not receive it may vote in-person, the secretary’s office said. Voters — who can track their mail-in ballot online — who mailed a ballot that has not yet been delivered to their local election office can also vote-in person.
Galvin emphasized voters will not be allowed to vote twice, as local officials will have voting records at polling places. Voters who voted by mail but then decide to vote in-person before their mailed ballot is received by election officials will not have their mail-in ballot counted, he said.
“There’s more steps in the process, more opportunities for error, so I know that. We’re hoping to avoid that,” Galvin said. “But we know it, and that’s the best way to try and avoid it … we’re seeing where things could happen.”
The secretary is anticipating 1.2 to 1.3 million Democrats to cast ballots in the primaries along with approximately 150,000 Republicans.
While he expects turnout to be a bit lower than the Democratic presidential primary election held in March, which set a record high for a Democratic primary of 1.4 million voters, Galvin credited the heated U.S. Senate race between Sen. Ed Markey and Congressman Joe Kennedy III, a vast number of local elections, and the public’s awareness of the November presidential election with driving voter interest.
As of Monday, over 768,000 Democrats had already cast their ballot and more than 88,000 Republicans had sent in their votes, Galvin said. There were still 400,000 outstanding mail-in ballots, of which he expected “a significant number” would be returned over the coming day.
“I think it’s fair to say … that a majority of the people who would be participating in tomorrow’s election in fact have voted,” Galvin said.
State primaries — with the exception of one outlier three decades ago — have historically brought in less than 1 million votes, according to Galvin.
“I think that will be a historical asterisk after tomorrow,” he said.
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