'Flood' Of Last-Minute Ballots Fill Peabody Voting Drop Boxes

PEABODY, MA — Droves of deadline-pressing voters dropping off mail-in ballots put the crunch on the Peabody City Clerk's office Tuesday night as poll workers rushed to get the ballots from drop boxes to the polls in time to be counted in the state primary election.

While Peabody City Clerk Allyson Danforth said the ballot counting, and behavior of residents at the polls, was primarily a positive experience in the unprecedented election, she did allow that the influx of ballots right up to the 8 p.m. deadline delayed reporting of the totals until later in the night than usual.

"There was a big flood right at the end," she told Patch on Wednesday. "Right up until 8 o'clock we had people running around at the last minute getting the ballots to the polls. I am sure we were not the only city where that happened. The earlier you can get in mail-in ballots (on Nov. 3) the better. We had a lot of people dropping (mail-in) ballots in the drop boxes because I think they felt that was more secure.

"That put a lot of pressure on our staff."

Danforth said a process of "advance counting" of early ballots actually helped to delay the final results as well, essentially forcing the office to go through the same procedure twice, adding that her office will likely go back to the more tried-and-true counting procedure of elections past for Nov. 3.

She said the city sent out well more than 7,000 mail-in ballots, with many residents opting to use the drop boxes to return them, or forgo them altogether and vote in person.

"People like voting in person," she said. "I would personally have liked to have voted in person if I were in my hometown."

Some voters statewide reported problems with mail-in voting, including never receiving their ballots despite requesting them weeks ago. The Boston Election Commission said it had heavy call volume from voters who were still waiting for their ballots. Meanwhile, CommonWealth Magazine reported poll workers were calling the Election Department to verify a mail-in ballot had not been returned before allowing people to vote in-person, causing delays and lines at poling places.

Danforth said the experience at the polls themselves was very good despite the precincts having a new look due to coronavirus-related consolidation and protocols when it came to sanitizing, social distancing and the strong request to wear masks.

"We didn't have any problems so I was pretty pleased with that," she said. "Everyone was very good, especially with the new locations. People didn't complain about the (personal protection equipment) and we didn't get any push back on the masks."

While she said her staff enjoys the adrenaline rush of election night, she asked that as many residents as possible take advantage of the two weeks of early voting — at a as-of-yet-undetermined location — prior to the Nov. 3 election to cut down on that late crunch at the polls in what is expected to be an overwhelming-turnout presidential election.

(Scott Souza is a Patch Field Editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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