Boston Election Day: Turnout Near 20% at Noon, Polls Open Until 8 p.m.

Featured photo: A ballot drop box in Boston (file photo). Photo: Whoisjohngalt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Turnout in Boston reached 19.78% at noon on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to the Boston Election Department, as reported by the Dorchester Reporter. Before Election Day, 62,652 Boston residents had already voted early or by mail, according to the city. Polls are open until 8 p.m. at the city’s 275 precincts, and anyone in line at 8 p.m. can still vote, according to the City of Boston.

Results will appear on our Massachusetts election tracker as they are reported. For more Boston local news, visit our Boston News page.

How Boston’s turnout compares

Before Election Day, Boston trailed the state: as of 4 p.m. Monday, 14.7% of the city’s registered voters had cast ballots, compared with 22.2% statewide, according to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office, the Dorchester Reporter reported. Of Boston’s early ballots, 15,343 were cast in person and 47,309 by mail or absentee.

Statewide, early in-person voting reached 347,346 ballots, compared with 188,175 in the 2022 state election, WBUR reported. Galvin’s office said higher early turnout could mean fewer voters on Election Day.

At the polls

Reporters found busy polling places in Dorchester but no long lines by midday, and no specific problems were reported, the Dorchester Reporter said. Boston Public Schools students 16 and older served as poll workers in Ward 17 through the city’s Student Pollworkers Program. Federal election monitors are in Boston and Lowell, which must offer multilingual ballots, WBUR reported; we explained their role in what federal election monitors can and can’t do.

The ballot is long. Voters get three double-sided cards with nine statewide questions, and the city asks voters to feed one card at a time into the tabulator and wait for “System Ready” before the next. Galvin said the cards are kept so very close races can be hand-counted. Question 4 would allow same-day voter registration starting with the next state election, WBUR reported. Our explainer on Massachusetts Question 3 and all-party primaries covers one of the most debated measures.

What’s on the ballot

Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, faces Republican Mike Minogue, and other statewide offices, congressional seats and legislative races are also on the ballot, WBUR reported. Coverage of City Hall and the council is on our Boston politics page, and statewide races are on Massachusetts politics.

Mail ballots and results

Mail-in ballots cannot be returned at polling places. They must reach a city drop box or the Election Department at City Hall, Room 241, by 8 p.m. Tuesday, or be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, the city said. The city expects to publish first results between 8 and 9 p.m., with combined results starting around 10 p.m. Galvin’s office said counting may run later than usual, and some congressional results may not be known until Wednesday or later, according to WBUR. For Election Day help, Boston voters can call 311. Our full Boston Election Day voting guide has polling place and drop box details.

For the national picture, including control of Congress, see Trump’s closing midterm message.

Sources

• City of Boston: Final voting reminders for the Nov. 3 state election
• Dorchester Reporter: Boston voter turnout near 20 percent at noon
• WBUR: Mass. voters hit the polls on Election Day