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Marblehead voters had cast 4,657 ballots by 4 p.m. Thursday, or 27.3 percent of the town’s 17,084 registered voters, according to figures the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office released that day. Statewide, 983,961 ballots had been cast, or 18.8 percent of 5,230,765 registered voters.
In Marblehead, 2,974 of those ballots came back by mail and 1,683 were cast in person during early voting. Statewide the split was 697,157 by mail and 286,804 in person. The counts reflect what local election officials had entered into the state voter database by 4 p.m., the Secretary’s office said, so they do not include the last morning of early voting in Marblehead, which ended at noon Friday.
That put Marblehead 37th among the state’s 351 cities and towns by the share of registered voters who have voted, up from 38th a day earlier, and 15th among the 163 municipalities with at least 10,000 registered voters, up from 16th. Eastham led the state at 39.5 percent, or 1,974 of 4,997 registered voters. Mashpee led those 163 at 35.2 percent, or 4,758 of 13,529.
Marblehead’s rate was higher than that of every nearby community listed here, by the share of registered voters who have voted:
- Nahant: 25.0 percent, or 700 of 2,796
- Swampscott: 23.8 percent, or 3,050 of 12,842
- Beverly: 21.8 percent, or 6,760 of 31,078
- Salem: 15.1 percent, or 5,649 of 37,405
- Lynn: 10.6 percent, or 6,833 of 64,610
The count is still climbing. On Oct. 13, when only mail ballots had come back, Marblehead’s total was 383. It was 3,358 on Monday, 3,840 on Tuesday and 4,296 on Wednesday. The 361 ballots added between the Wednesday and Thursday counts, 133 by mail and 228 in person, are a gain of 8.4 percent on Wednesday’s 4,296. Statewide the count rose by 80,682, from 903,279 to 983,961, a gain of 8.9 percent.
None of those figures include Election Day. In the last state election, on Nov. 8, 2022, Marblehead cast 10,636 ballots in the governor’s race, blanks included, according to results from the Secretary’s Elections Division. This year’s count so far equals 43.8 percent of that total. The statewide count equals 39.2 percent of the 2,511,461 ballots cast in that race. In the 2024 presidential race the figure was 13,760. In the Sept. 1 primary the town cast 5,791 ballots, or 34.0 percent of the 17,042 voters then registered.
The Secretary’s figures are by municipality. They do not show turnout by precinct or party.
Mail ballots are still out. The Secretary’s figures show 4,342 sent to Marblehead voters and 2,974 returned, a return rate of 68.5 percent. That leaves 1,368 outstanding, or 31.5 percent. Statewide, 697,157 of the 1,063,852 mailed had come back, or 65.5 percent, leaving 366,695 outstanding.
Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin said Tuesday that voters still holding a mail ballot should skip the mail. “Within one week of Election Day, we always warn voters not to take the risk of mailing their ballot, if they are able to use a drop box instead,” Galvin said. “If you still have your mail-in ballot, you can bring it to a drop box or your local election office until 8 p.m. on Election Day.” A ballot postmarked by Election Day still counts if it arrives by Nov. 6, his office said. Drop box locations are listed at VoteInMA.com, and voters should use only a box in the city or town where they are registered.
A voter who has not returned a mail ballot may still vote at the polls, but the mail ballot is rejected if it arrives afterward, according to the Secretary’s vote-by-mail guidance. A mail ballot cannot be dropped off at a polling place on Election Day.
Early voting in Marblehead ended at noon Friday at the Town Clerk’s office in Abbot Hall, 188 Washington St., according to a notice from Town Clerk Robin A. Michaud’s office. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. Voters can check their precinct through the state’s Where Do I Vote lookup or by calling the Town Clerk’s office at 781-631-0528.
