Ready to vote? Mass. voters get a chance to cast ballots in presidential primaries Tuesday

By Alli Knothe

March 5, 2012

1 minute to read

Massachusetts voters will get a chance Tuesday to step up to the plate and vote in the 2012 presidential primaries.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. For more information on where to vote, residents can contact their local town clerk, the secretary of state’s office said.

Only residents who registered to vote by Feb. 15 will be allowed to cast ballots. If enrolled in a political party — whether Democratic, Republican, or Green-Rainbow– people can only vote for candidates in those respective primaries.

Independent, or “unenrolled,’’ voters have the option of voting in any of the primaries without having to commit to a party.

On the Republican ballot this year will be Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul, who are engaged in a battle for the nomination. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is expected to prevail. The ballot also includes Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, and Michelle Bachmann, who have dropped out of the race.

President Obama is the uncontested Democratic candidate.

Green-Rainbow primary candidates include Kent Meslay, Jill Stein, and Harley Mikkelson.

According to Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office, as of Feb. 15, more than 4 million voters were registered in the state. Of those, 52 percent are unenrolled, 36 percent are Democrats, 11 percent are Republican, and 0.12 percent are Green-Rainbow.

Since the last presidential primary in 2008, the number of registered voters has increased by about 100,000 people. And while Democratic and Republican enrollment is slightly down, the percentage of unenrolled voters is up by more than 126,000 people.