Massachusetts Voters Prepped for Presidential Primary
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| Joyce Wrend rallies for Clinton in North Adams on Monday night. |
NORTH ADAMS - There could well be a record turnout for the presidential primary as Massachusetts joins 23 other states for a Super Tuesday blowout.
Up for grabs are hundreds of delegates.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton were doing last-minute campaigning Monday in Massachusetts, where they are running neck and neck for the Democratic nomination; Arizona Sen. John McCain was in Boston to rally Republican supporters against former Gov. Mitt Romney, who was expected back in the Bay State Tuesday to vote.
While interest in the primary may result in more voters headed to the polls, weather may end up playing a role in North Berkshires.
A messy mix of sleety rain is forecast for when the polls open at 7 a.m. tomorrow, with more rain expected through the day.
In Northern Berkshire, that could temper the turnout, said City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau. "That could hold a lot of people back."
However, Gomeau said there's been an uptick in the number of people registering to vote and she thinks the turnout will be pretty good for a primary.
"I don't normally predict the turnout, but I'd say about 33 percent, just in my opinion," said Gomeau.
She could be right on the mark. Secretary of State William Galvin is predicting more than 30 percent of the state's four million voters will head to the polls - most to weigh in on the hotly contested race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"It looks like a strong turnout," said Galvin spokesman Brian McNiff on Monday morning. McNiff said more than 73,000 absentee ballots had been requested at last count, although he cautioned that many people may be ensuring their vote gets counted in case they can't get to their polling places.
Anecdotal evidence of more people registering in North Berkshire is indicative of what's been happening around the state, he said. "You have to keep in mind that the primary percentage [of voters] is usually low."
For example, some 50.34 percent of registered voters in the state are unenrolled in any party, meaning that they may not be motivated to vote in the primary, said McNiff.
Adams Town Clerk Paul Hutchinson agreed, saying he expects a far better turnout in November for the presidential election.
Still, he thinks it will be "pretty good for a primary" and is expecting about 25 percent of the town's registered voters will be at the polls.
Hutchinson hasn't seen a lot of new voters, or changes in party affiliation. But in Williamstown, a lot of Republicans are being reborn as Democrats, according to Town Clerk Mary Kennedy.
In fact, the amount of interest in the primary has Kennedy pegging the turnout for her town at a whopping 40 percent.
Galvin said last week that he believes the Democratic turnout will exceed the 562,000 voters in 2000. McNiff said that primary, in which no incumbent was running, had a turnout of 28 percent in the state.
Some polls have Clinton and Obama in a virtual dead heat in Massachusetts. The candidates have racked a number of high-level supporters, with Clinton garnering endorsements from legislative leaders while Obama has the backing of Gov. Deval Patrick and U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry.
Clinton, however, seems to be tracking higher among women than men. A SurveyUSA poll taken over the weekend shows the former first lady pulling ahead of the charismatic senator at 56 percent to 39 percent among all Democratic voters. Obama polls better with men (56 percent) and Clinton among women (69 percent) in the WBZ-TV-sponsored poll.
On the Republican side, McCain seems poised to give the former governor a drubbing. Among McCain's supporters are Romney's predecessors in the governor's office, A. Paul Celucci and Jane Swift of Williamstown.
A SurveyUSA/WBZ-TV poll shows 58 percent of GOP voters more likely to vote for McCain; 37 percent said they were more likely to vote for Romney.
And as they head to the polls tomorrow, what are voters here most concerned with? According to our own informal poll, it's the Iraq War, high heating costs and recession. Over the two-week period we left our poll up, the war and heating slipped out of first and second, respectively, to make way for worries over recession, presumably because Wall Street jitters and the ballooning mortgage crisis have been recent front-page news.
Overall, of the people who took our poll, high gas and oil prices were the most important thing to consider in this election at 27 percent. The war and recession were even at 23.42 percent each for voters; 19.82 percent
want a change in leadership and only 6.31 percent saw health care as an important issue.
Who are they voting for? As of early this evening, 36 percent of those who took the poll were planning to vote for Clinton; McCain and Obama had about 27 percent each and Romney polled 9 percent. No one picked "none of the above."
Besides the presidential candidates on one side of the page and the countywide state committeeman race between Matt Barron of Chesterfield and Peter Arlos of Pittsfield, there is also the state committeeman race in North Berkshire in which Margaret Johnson-Ware of Williamstown is running unopposed. Both Pittsfield and North Adams will also be electing ward committee members.
There will also be a presidential primary ballot with six candidates from the Green-Rainbow Party and the Working Families Party with no candidates officially running.
The North Adams Democratic City Committee is holding a primary night results party to watch as the results come in from across the country. Join fellow Democrats and independents at the Freight Yard Pub on Tuesday evening.
For more information, contact Lisa Blackmer at lmblackmer@msn.com or
413-884-5874.
WUPE Radio provided some of the information in this article.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Where to vote in North Berkshire:
Adams: Adams Memorial Middle School, 30 Columbia St.
Cheshire: Community Senior Center, 119 School St.
Clarksburg: Town Hall, 111 River Road
Florida: Town Office, 379 Mohawk Trail
Hancock: Hancock School, Route 43
Lanesborough: Town Hall, 83 North Main St.
Savoy: Senior Center, 720 Main Road9.
Williamstown: Williamstown Elementary School, 115 Church St.
North Adams
- Ward 1: Conte Middle School
- Wards 2 and 5: St. Anthony's Parish Center
- Ward 3: Ashland Street Apartments
- Ward 4: Greylock Elementary School
- Ward 1, Precinct A: Reid Middle School, 950 North St.
- Ward 1, Precinct B: Reid Middle School, 950 North St.
- Ward 2, Precinct A: Morningside Community School, 100 Burbank St.
- Ward 2, Precinct B: Somerset Fire Station, Somerset Ave.
- Ward 3, Precinct A: Providence Court, 379 East St.
- Ward 3, Precinct B: All Souls Church, 51 Pembroke Ave.
- Ward 4, Precinct A: Herberg Middle School, 501 Pomeroy Ave.
- Ward 4, Precinct B: Williams School, 50 Bushey Road
- Ward 5, Precinct A: St. Teresa Parish Center, 290 South St.
- Ward 5, Precinct B: Fire Station, 331 West Housatonic St.
- Ward 6, Precinct A: Columbus Arms Housing, 65 Columbus Ave.
- Ward 6, Precinct B: Conte Community School, 200 W. Union St.
- Ward 7, Precinct A: Fire Station, 54 Peck's Road
- Ward 7, Precinct B: Capeless Elementary School, 86 Brooks Ave.
