Politics & Government
Worcester Primary Primer: What To Know About The Sept. 6 Election
Worcester has one of the few major contested legislative races in Massachusetts in the Sept. 6 primary.
WORCESTER, MA — In 2022, Worcester will have its first state primary election in years.
The race to replace Democratic state Sen. Harriette Chandler has dominated headlines and local doorsteps for months — not only because it's the only primary race around, but because the two candidates are pretty closely matched.
Worcester Mayor Joe Petty — who has had his eye on Chandler's seat for a while — entered the race in March with plenty of name recognition, and with a sizeable campaign account leftover from his cakewalk reelection in 2021. But former YWCA of Central Massachusetts leader Robyn Kennedy has made the primary a real race, drawing support from the state teachers union and key members of the city council and school committee, plus former Worcester mayor Tim Murray.
Chandler herself hasn't faced a primary challenge since 2014, when she devastated Democratic opponents Sean Maher and William Feegbeh, earning about 75 percent of the primary vote that year. She was the first woman to hold the 1st Worcester District state Senate seat, an historical achievement for women in politics that has loomed over the race between Petty and Kennedy.
RELATED: State Sen. Chandler Retiring, A Jolt To Worcester Political Scene
Apart from the 1st Worcester Senate race, local voters — along with everyone else in the state — will be picking Democrats to compete in statewide races for governor, auditor, secretary of the commonwealth and attorney general.
Local Republican voters will be choosing between governor and lieutenant governor candidates, including former Leicester state representative Kate Campanale. There are no Republican primary contests for state Legislature seats.
The 2022 primary will also be an election milestone. It'll be the first in Massachusetts after a law making mail-in voting permanent, and the first ever early voting week before a state primary. That means thousands of ballots were already cast before Election Day.
Here's everything else to know about today's election in Worcester:
Important Dates
- Deadline to deliver mail-in ballots: Sept. 6 at 8 p.m.
- Voting on Election Day, Sept. 6: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Check if you're registered to vote here
Voting by mail
Massachusetts briefly joined a handful of other U.S. states in allowing voting by mail during the pandemic. Then the Legislature let the practice expire. Then they brought it back in June after passing a big, new voting rights bill.
If you're a registered voter, you should've already received a vote-by-mail application from your local clerk. If you didn't, the deadline for a primary mail-in ballot has passed, but you'll get another chance ahead of the November election.
The state has improved the vote by mail materials since the pandemic, but the process is largely the same: once you get your ballot, you fill it out at home with a black pen and then return it to be counted. The best way to return a mail-in ballot is by putting in your local ballot drop box or hand-delivering it to your city or town clerk. You CANNOT drop it off at a polling place on Sept. 6.
Polling places
Worcester will have dozens of polling locations open starting at 7 a.m. on Sept. 6 from Great Brook Valley down to Emanuel Lutheran Church in Quinsigamond Village.
Don't know where to vote? Check out the city's website to find out.
Who's on the ballot?
WORCESTER
The only competitive local race is between Democrats Robyn Kennedy and Joe Petty for the 1st Worcester District state Senate seat. Worcester Patch sat down with each candidate in August to talk about their campaigns. Read the Petty interview here, and the Kennedy interview here.
STATEWIDE DEMOCRATS
Attorney General
- Andrea Campbell
- Shannon Liss-Riordan
- Quentin Palfrey (dropped out on Aug. 30, but still on ballot)
Auditor
Governor
- Sonia Chang-Diaz (dropped out, but still on ballot)
- Maura Healey
Lieutenant Governor
Secretary of State
STATEWIDE REPUBLICANS
Governor
