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AUBURN, Mass. – Voter turnout was expected to be low for Thursday’s Massachusetts state primary, and that prediction certainly came true in Auburn.
As of 3 p.m., Town Clerk Ellen Gaboury reported that 3 percent of Auburn’s registered voters had come out to vote. At that time, she said that 413 voters out of the eligible 11,500 in Auburn had cast a ballot.
“Since it’s a primary and there’s only one contested race, there are a lot of voters who don’t wish to participate,” Gaboury said. “There are other districts where there are primary races, which would bring out more voters, so Massachusetts as a whole could be higher.”
The turnout jumped to 6 percent by the time polls closed at 8 p.m. There were 454 Democrat ballots and 248 Republican ballots cast in Auburn. No Green-Rainbow ballots were cast, officials said.
While the primary lacked excitement in Auburn, Gaboury predicted a much more significant turnout in November’s general election.
“We usually have 80 to 90 percent for a presidential election,” Gaboury said. “The President, U.S. Senator and state Senate races should bring a lot of people out.”
Here are the unofficial voting results for Auburn in Thursday’s primary:
Republican
U.S. Senator
Scott Brown - 238
Governor’s Councillor
Jen Caissie - 180
State Senator
Steve Simonian - 188
State Representative
Paul Frost - 226
Democrat
U.S. Senator
Elizabeth Warren - 357
U.S. Representative
James McGovern - 401
William Feegbeh - 42
State Senator
Michael Moore - 379
Register of Deeds
Anthony Vigliotti - 364
Clerk of Courts
Dennis McManus - 351
The Super Bowl of politics arrives Tuesday, Nov. 6, with the ballot including the presidential election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, in addition to the U.S. Senate race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren and the state Senate election with Michael Moore vs. Steve Simonian.
Absentee ballots are available if a voter will be away from town, has a disability preventing them from accessing the polls or has a religious prohibition. The deadline for absentee requests is noon on the day before the election.
For more information, call the town clerk’s office at 508-832-7701.
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