Pittsfield Having a Quiet, Rainy Election Day
UPDATE: As of 6:30 p.m., Pittsfield has a 34.4 percent voter turnout rate.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It has so far been a relatively peaceful — and rainy — primary election day in the city.
City Clerk Michele Benjamin reported that as of noon, there was only a 12 percent voter turnout. She hopes to see more votes cast later in the day and that the gloomy weather conditions don't deter too many people.
"It's going pretty well, we haven't had any problems or anything," she said around 3 p.m. at the Berkshire Athenaeum polling site.
Last year's municipal election had a 21 percent voter turnout and the 2020 state primary election yielded a 37 percent turnout.
The primary was expected to have a higher turnout with two hot local races as well as some competitive statewide races on the Democratic ballot. Republicans, too, have an open primary for nominees for both governor and lieutenant governor.
North Adams wasn't much higher at 17 percent around 4:30 p.m. So far, 1,578 out of 9,470 registered voters had cast ballots.
Election official Nancy Canales, who'd been at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center since 5:30 a.m. to set up, said the numbers had been steady but light.
The two major races in the primary are for sheriff and district attorney. With the candidates all on the Democratic ballot -- and no Republican challenger -- the presumptive winner will be determined Tuesday.
Supporters of incumbent Sheriff Thomas Bowler, his challenger Alf Barbalunga, and district attorney candidate Timothy Shugrue said they have been getting along while holding signs outside the library in Pittsfield and that it had been a great day -- aside from the rain.
"It's been a great day," Aaron Sugarman said, holding a Barbalunga sign. "It's been very wet and a little bit cold but there's been a lot of activity in and out of the library since 11 a.m. so people are definitely getting out to vote."
At around 2:50, Ward 5A had 380 votes cast and 5B had 522. There were more than 550 early and absentee votes in the ward.
Reid Middle School — the polling station of Ward 1 A and B — had an array of candidate supporters with signs for incumbent DA Andrea Harrington, Shugrue, Bowler, Barbalunga, state Senate candidate Paul Mark, and Governer's Council candidates Tara Jacobs and Jeff Morneau.
At 3 p.m., Ward 1A had 259 votes and 1B had 547.
A smaller crowd held signs for Barbalunga, Bowler, and Shugrue outside of Egremont Elementary School, which is where Ward 3B residents vote.
Around 3:45 p.m., the precinct had 636 votes cast.
The only issue reported throughout the locations was traffic congestion between voters and students getting out of school at elementary and middle school polling locations.
There was a fairly large Bowler contingent in North Adams across from the polling station. They'd set up a canopy to keep the rain off. The driveway into the parish center is normally buzzing but the rain apparently kept away large crowds. City Councilors Marie T. Harpin and Jennifer Barbeau, holding Harrington signs, were under a small tree to help keep off the rain. Harpin said she'd been there most of the day, only going home to warm and dry off mid-afternoon.
John Barrett III, running for a third term in the state House of Representatives against challenger Paula Kingsbury-Evans, said he'd been making the rounds in the expanded First Berkshire District. The once nine-town North County district now includes Savoy, Windsor, Hinsdale and Peru.
"One of the reasons I decided to run, I think more than anything else, is because of the reduction of four representatives to three, making sure that we, hopefully, will have a chairmanship or two out of out of the three that are left," he said, referring to the loss of a House seat from redistricting. "We have make sure that Berkshire County still has a voice."
Tags: election 2022, primary,
