Braintree Town Clerk Predicts Low Turnout for U.S. Senate Primary

Town Clerk Joe Powers is predicting turnout next Tuesday of 26 percent for the Special State Primary Election to nominate Republican and Democratic candidates to fill the seat left vacant by Secretary of State John Kerry.

That would be up slightly from the last special election primary, when in December 2009 Scott Brown and Martha Coakley were nominated by their parties in the race for Ted Kennedy's senate seat and just less than 25 percent of registered voters in Braintree showed up to the polls. The average local turnout for special state primaries since 2001 is 29 percent.

"Unfortunately, we're probably looking at average or slightly below average turnout next week," Powers said.

Despite that prediction, Powers said that turnout could surprise him as a couple factors may contribute to more polling station traffic.

One of the Democratic candidates – U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch – represents the district that includes Braintree, and the recent events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing could drive participation.

"I always want to be proven wrong," Powers said. "We'd love nothing better than to have a very vigorous and active turnout."

As of April 10, there were 25,015 registered voters in Braintree. Of those, 9,078 were Democrats, 2,807 Republicans and were 13,130 were unenrolled.

The Libertarian and Green-Rainbow parties did not meet a turnout threshold in last fall's election, removing them from this special election primary. Approximately 125 Braintree residents are registered under those affiliations, making them ineligible to vote in the primary.

Those in third parties who changed registration before the April 10 deadline may vote, and all registered voters can participate in the June 25 general election. The voter registration deadline for that is 8 p.m. on June 5.

As of April 22, 119 absentee ballots had been requested in Braintree. The deadline to request those ballots is 12 p.m. on Monday, April 29.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 30. Voting locations have not changed since the November election. See a map of the locations: http://patch.com/A-m97q

Candidates on the primary ballots:

Democratic

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston)

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Malden)

Republican

Michael Sullivan

Gabriel Gomez

State Rep. Dan Winslow (R-Norfolk)