54% of Marion voters cast ballots early for Nov. 3 election

Nov 2, 2020

MARION  — Boxes of ballots sat in the Clerk’s office on Nov. 2, waiting to be opened, unfolded, processed through a ballot counter and recorded in the state database. 

According to Town Clerk Elizabeth Magauran, 54% of Marion residents already voted early for the Nov. 3 general election. 

Members of the Town Clerk’s office spent all day on Nov. 2 opening, recording and processing early voting ballots that have been sent from as near as Marion, to as far away from London.

“Residents have been doing very well,” with early voting, Magauran said. “It’s been very smooth.”

Out of the town’s 4,374 registered voters, 2,430 early and absentee voter ballots have been received at the Clerk’s office as of Nov. 2 at 8 a.m.

Of the 2,430 early voters, 830 of them voted in-person at the Town Clerk’s office.

Even as Magauran rattled off statistics, 12 new ballots came in the mail.

In Marion, Magauran said the town didn’t have issues with dropbox damage or tampering with ballots.

There were no issues with post office delays, but Magauran said the only confusion was from college students who requested ballots be sent to their homes, but then moved away for school.

Going into what has been the biggest election in the Tri-Town in recent memory, Registrar of Voters Ami Milano said she wasn’t nervous for Nov. 3 in Marion, nor in Massachusetts.

“We’ve had quite a lot of practice,” between the presidential primaries, town elections and the state election primaries, Milano said. 

One issue the Clerk’s office has dealt with is the lag in the state’s tracking system.

While the town keeps its own records of who voted, the change is taking longer than the usual 24-hour period to show up in the state’s database because of the overload on the system.

One thing the office was not concerned about was poll workers.

Magauran said that people were very forthcoming about signing up to be volunteers on election day.

“People are just really concerned that the election goes smoothly,” she said.

Though only 46% of Marion voters still needed to cast their ballot, there was a slight uptick in the turnout numbers.

Just between Sept. 28 and Oct. 25, Milano said 89 residents registered to vote.

Though the deadline has passed to register for an early and absentee ballot, residents who have them can still mail them.

Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3, and the Town Clerk’s office can receive them up until 5 p.m. on Nov. 6. 

International, overseas and active military voters have until Nov. 13 to send their ballots in.

If people are worried about their vote not being counted, they can call the Town Clerk’s office.