Wellesley Has Record-Breaking Midterm Voter Turnout: Results

WELLESLEY, MA — Voter turnout this election broke records in town for midterms. An astounding 77 percent of registered voters flooded to the polls in Wellesley Tuesday's. This broke the previous record of 76 percent turnout in 2010. Turnout was 69 percent for 2014's midterm.

According to the town's unofficial results, 12,920 of the 16,779 registered voters showed up to cast a ballot.

Town Clerk K.C. Kato said early voting might have played a role in the larger turnout, but thinks there's more to it than that.

"People were just more engaged in the political process this year," she said. She said people were also more engaged with the ballot questions.

Like most of the state, Wellesley overwhelmingly supported Gov. Charlie Baker over Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez, with a 8,805-3,878 vote.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren defeated Republican Challenger Geoff Diehl in town, 8,127-4,064. Statewide, Warren's victory was a landslide by about 24 percentage points. Independent candidate for senator Shiva Ayyadurai received 468 votes.

Wellesley voters shut down Question 1, 10,167-2,554, while the town voted in favor of Questions 2 and 3, approving Question 2, 9,056-3,472 and Question 3, 9,793-2,880.

Photo by Dan Libon