Burlington Voters Back Markey With Record Turnout Numbers

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington voters put their support behind incumbent Sen. Ed Markey in the Democratic primary Tuesday. Record numbers of voters turned out for the state primary.

Over 40 percent of Burlington eligible voters cast ballots, with a hotly-watched senate primary and all voters eligible to vote by mail due to the coronavirus. That's more than double the turnout number in any state primary over the last decade. In 2018, just over 18 percent voted, the highest number of any state primary election since 2010.

Of 16,953 eligible voters, 6,870 cast ballots, or 40.5 percent, according to the town's unofficial results

>>MA Mail-In Voting A Success, Officials, Advocacy Groups Say

Markey took 55.1 percent of the 5,598 Democratic primary votes, to Rep. Joe Kennedy III's 44.3 percent. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton also won Burlington's support, winning nearly three-quarters of the votes against his two challengers.

On the Republican side, Burlington voters supported businessman Kevin O'Connor in the U.S. Senate primary. He took 58.9 percent of the 1,243 votes, against entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai.

In all three races, Burlington voters picked the winner.

Town Clerk Amy Warfield said there were no significant issues on election day, although the 40 percent turnout kept the election workers busy all day.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.