North Adams Voters Have Double Election Tuesday
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City voters will have to double-down when they go the polls next Tuesday.
North Adams will be casting ballots for both Senate primary candidates and on the authorization to borrow money for a new school project on April 30. That means two distinct elections will be held at the same time, said City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau.
"There will be two check-in tables — one for the state and one for the city," said Gomeau.
It's the first time Gomeau can remember the city holding a vote like this. She and the Board of Registrars turned to a clerk with more experience in running multiple elections. "We used a lot of her suggestions."
Gomeau's main concern is keeping the voting process orderly and easy. Voters will have to line up to enter the polling places; then go to each of the check-in tables to receive a ballot; vote; then checkout at both state and city tables, then cast their ballots, one at a time, into the machines.
"The machines have been programmed to read both ballots," she said, which will save election workers time at the end of the night.
Voters, of course, don't have to vote in both elections. But election workers don't want them thinking they can jump ahead if they don't.
"They still have to wait in line or it could be mass confusion," said Gomeau. "We'll have extra staff to help voters and make it a very easy process."
The difficulty may depend on the turnout, and that's something the clerk's not sure of. There haven't been a lot of new voter registrations, but coming off a presidential election year that usually bumps up the number of voters, that's not too strange, she said.
"We really don't have a feel for what the turnout will be," she said. The number of absentee ballots so far is 80, which she considers somewhat low considering the controversy over the school project. "We would think that it would be higher."
The primary — either Democratic or Republican — hasn't seemed to have charged up the electorate either. There are few if any political signs around and certainly other issues have been crowding the airwaves recently.
Voters will choose one city ballot — a yes or no vote on whether to borrow money for the Conte School project — and one of two U.S. Senate primary election ballots. Registered Democrats can select between Stephen F. Lynch or Edward J. Markey and registered Republicans between Gabriel E. Gomez, Michael J. Sullivan or Daniel B. Winslow. Those unenrolled can choose which primary they wish to vote in.
Polls will open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for both elections. Wards 1,2 3 and 5 will vote at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center; Ward 4 votes at Greylock Elementary School. At the end of voting, the machines will record the results for both elections on the same tapes, with the state results first. The unofficial results will be posted in their usual places.
Gomeau said the board and election workers have been training to provide as easy a voting process as possible but she's also asking that voters have patience.
"We've really done everything we can to make it easy for voters but we are asking them to for their understanding and patience," she said.
Tags: Conte School, municipal borrowing, primary, school project, special election,
