News

A lonely day at the polls

by Julie Walker
Wednesday Sep 10, 2014

While local pundits predicted low voter participation in Tuesday, September 9's primary, the actual turnout was even lower than expected, with a total of 63,386 voting cards cast in Boston by the 8:00 PM closing of the polls, according to the city of Boston's Election Department web page. That reflects 16.67% of Boston's 380,202 registered voters. In the South End, the normally busy Cathedral High School gymnasium, which hosts several precincts on election day, was deserted, without the customary line outside the door on Washington Street and with little or no line at each precinct desk even at the popular after-work timeframe of 6:00-7:00 PM. Election commissioner Geraldine Cuddyer explained in an e-mail that 11 precincts are located partially or entirely in the South End. Of those, ward 5, precinct 1 had the highest balloting numbers as of the Mayor's office's 6:00 PM polling report, with 522 voters, and ward 8, precinct 1 had the lowest turnout as of 6:00 PM with 104 voters. Some political observers attributed to the disappointing voting numbers to the early date, coming so soon after Labor Day and the summer vacation season, and others conjectured that the lack of heated races accounted for the poor participation.

Contested races in the Democratic column included candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, and attorney general, Suffolk County sheriff and Suffolk Register of Probate. In those contests, Martha Coakley prevailed in the governor's race with 47% over Steve Grossman's 33% and Donald Berwick's 19% margins; Stephen J. Kerrigan won the primary for lieutenant governor by 44% over Leland Cheung's 31% and Michael Lake's 24% shares; Maura Healey bested Warren Tolman in the attorney general race by 55% to 45%; and in the race for the state treasurer nomination, Deborah Goldberg beat Barry Finegold and Thomas Conroy with 49% of the vote compared to 25% for each of her opponents. Several of Boston's House and Senate members faced competition as well, but there were no significant upsets. State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz topped competitor Roy Owens by 80%-19%, and State Rep. Gloria Fox beat her challengers, with 49% of the vote compared to Rufus Faulk's 30% and Eric Esteves's 20%. In the Suffolk County races, Sheriff Steven Tompkins won with 63% of the vote over challengers Douglas Bennett and Jeremiah Goodwin, Jr., and former Boston city councilor Felix D. Arroyo won the Democratic race for Register of Probate with 53%, topping troubled incumbent Patricia Campatelli and four other candidates. On the Republican side, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker won a landslide against opponent Mark Fisher 77% to 21%. Many races were vacant on the Republican side, although David James Wyatt, a teacher and pro-life candidate in last fall's race for Mayor of Boston, resurfaced as the unopposed Republican primary candidate for State Senate in the 2nd Suffolk District. He will face Sen. Chang-Diaz in the general election.

Ward 9 Democratic committee chairman Richard Shibley and fellow committee member Rosalinda Midence were strolling through Blackstone Square, with Shibley heading for the polls while Midence had already voted. Both lamented the poor voter participation, and Midence commented that as an educator, she stresses to her students the importance of voting.

The City of Boston aided election-day reporting by providing ballot counts broken down by ward and precinct every three hours during the polling period. "We are all about transparency," Kate Norton, press secretary for Mayor Walsh, said on Tuesday morning.

The general election will take place on Tuesday, November 4, and voters who wish to participate must be registered at least 20 days before the election. For more information on voter registration, visit http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleinfo.htm or call the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Elections Division at 617/727-2828.