Early Voting Off To Slow Start In Brookline

BROOKLINE, MA — So far the crowds are not stampeding the ballot boxes around town. For the past five days it's been possible for registered Brookline voters to head to Town Hall and cast a ballot early to avoid crowds or lines on Nov. 6. But as of halfway through the period in which early voting is an option, 1,785 have cast their vote early for the Midterm Elections.

"We’re off by a third from 2016," said Town Clerk Pat Ward, who had originally hoped to see at least half the turnout Brookline saw the first year early voting was permitted.

By the end of early voting on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 some 11,777 people or about 30 percent of voters had taken advantage of early voting in Brookline, according to town data.

And that eased the lines and the crush that election officials predicted at polling stations across Brookline on Election Day that year. But it was a presidential race, which always tend to bring more people out, Ward pointed out.

"There's interest in the midterms, and we do have another six days of voting, but we're certainly not going to reach the 12,000 we had in 2016," he told Patch in a phone interview. "At this rate, it could be as low as 3,000. I thought we'd be slammed, but we're not."

Anyone who is registered to vote in Brookline can show up to Town Hall and cast a ballot for the Nov. 6 election early Monday through Friday, Nov. 2. Poll workers will verify you are eligible to vote by looking up your name and address.

"It's seamless," said Ward.

He's just perplexed why there aren't more people taking advantage of it.

Early voting in 2016 didn't increase turnout, just convenience at least in Brookline where only 12 more people voted in 2016 than 2012, he said.

Although Brookline’s population is about 60,000, only a little more than 39,200 people are active registered voters here.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff