Braintree Voter Turnout Already More Than Half Of 2016 Election

BRAINTREE, MA — Over 11,800 Braintree voters have cast ballots in the Nov. 3 general election, as of Tuesday night, Town Clerk Jim Casey said Wednesday. That's already 46 percent of Braintree's registered voters.

The 11,834 ballots cast are more than 57 percent of the 2016 presidential election total of 20,626, one week before the polls close. In the September state primary election, 10,616 votes were cast in Braintree.

About 54 percent, or 6,430, of the of the early voters so far have been cast their ballots by mail. Another 5,404 voted early in-person, Casey said.

Casey said the busiest day for early voter turnout was Oct. 17, the first day for early voting in Massachusetts. That Saturday saw 536 Braintree residents hit the polls at a rate of 1.8 votes per minute. In the first 11 days of early voting, Casey said the town has averaged 1.1 votes per minute.

"We had a short window, and almost twice as many people voted," Casey said.

>>Election 2020: When, Where And How To Vote In Braintree

Due to the pandemic, early voting and mail voting were both greatly expanded in Massachusetts. Early in person voting was available for two weeks, ending Friday, and mail voting was made available to all voters, with no excuse needed.

In addition to the presidential election, Braintree voters are casting their ballots in state and federal legislative races and two statewide ballot measures.