HYANNIS – Cape Cod town clerks are calling the first day of early voting on Monday a success.
Approximately 4,000 residents on the Cape cast their ballots on the first day they could, which is just over 2 percent of all registered voters in the county.
Sandwich Town Clerk Taylor White said his office opened up to a line of voters and 250 people voted throughout the day.
“There certainly wasn’t a lack of excitement here in the Sandwich Town Hall Annex,” White said. “We actually had a line out the door first thing in the morning. There were about 6 people waiting to vote at 8:30.”
Provincetown, at 5 percent, saw the highest turnout on day one of early voting across the Cape.
Harwich, Mashpee and Orleans all saw over 4 percent of registered voters cast their ballots on the first day.
Deborah Dami, the Mashpee town clerk, said they were just as busy on Tuesday after seeing 452 voters on Monday.
Almost 3 percent of registered voters in Dennis cast ballots on Monday. Dennis Town Clerk Terry Bunce said there were seven voters in line at 8:30 a.m.
“A lot of people were just very positive about the whole thing,” she said. “Some people were just saying, ‘Oh I just can’t wait to get this election over with. Now that I’ve voted I can get it behind me,’ but they were positive about it too.”
Bunce said the turnout could be because the process is something new in the state.
“Even in years past people would come to our counter and ask for an early voting ballot, which back then we could only offer an absentee ballot,” she said. “They are quite happy.”
White said Sandwich voters were happy with how the early voting process is handled.
“We actually received a lot of positive comments about the convenience factor of early voting, as well as how quickly voters were in and out,” White said.
The figures for Eastham and Wellfleet were not available.
Early voting in Massachusetts runs through November 4 and Election Day is November 8.
Residents can find out how and when to early vote by contacting their town clerk’s office or visiting their town’s website. All hours and voting locations for each town can also be found at the website for the Secretary of State William Galvin.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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