BARNSTABLE – Barnstable Town Clerk Ann Quirk is pleased with how many drop-off ballots have been requested leading up to election season.
Early voting is available for the Massachusetts primaries for the first time ever this year. In the town, early voting is being conducted at the Barnstable Adult Community Center from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Friday.
The process of collecting and recording those early votes, Quirk explained, is a long one. Voter information has to be manually put into their system, and other materials have to be gathered and collected by hand to make sure the ballots are accounted for.
“I have lots of volunteers to help us,” Quirk said, “because I think we’re up to almost 9,000 of them now.”
Even with the busy work, Quirk is happy with the voting turnout for the primary. Their ballot drop-off box at Barnstable Town Hall consistently sees a stream of ballots put into it.
“We check on it several times a day and every time we go out, it’s loaded with more ballots; which really excites me, because this would probably be the biggest turnout we’ve ever had for a primary,” Quirk said.
Quirk noted that the town usually sees about 25% of the voter base come out for the primaries.
While workers manage the ballots behind the scenes, Quirk said that voters should be ready to go when they arrive to vote.
The primary ballots–as they are not yet for the general election for positions such as President of the United States–are available to review online, although the vote cannot be done on the town’s website.
Voters cannot vote on multiple party ballots; they must choose to vote for either Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, or Green party candidates.
The ballot drop-off box is monitored by cameras and bolted still.
For more information, visit the Town Clerk’s office’s website by clicking here.
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