The town is getting ready for the official start of early voting for the 2024 presidential primary.
Early voting in North Attleborough began on Feb. 24 and will run throuh March 1 at the Town Hall between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The date is also the deadline for residents who want to register to vote in the primary or change their party affiliation.
Pat Dolan, the town’s election coordinator, said voters would be offered one of three ballot options featuring candidates for President and State Committee Men and Women from the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties, respectively. Additionally, Dolan said the election department sent out 3,400 mail-in ballots to voters who wished to vote by mail.
“We have been extremely busy sending out the mail ballots,” Dolan said. “We will be doing a training class for poll workers and then setting up the early voting site here at the Town Hall.”
Dolan said the election department has been working diligently to ensure no technical or logistical problems arise for this year’s primary. The last presidential primary election occurred in 2020 when Donald Trump was elected as the Republican nominee and Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
In North Attleborough, Biden won the primary with 1,777 votes, while Trump won his primary with 1,450 votes. Biden would then go on to defeat Trump in the general election and now the two are almost certain to face each other again this year.
In terms of turnout, Dolan said she has yet to estimate how many voters will turnout for the presidential primary. She said she would like to see as many voters as possible. Still, she was unsure how many would vote early or even in the primary altogether.
“Last time, we had about 32% of voters show up,” Dolan said. “There were about 5,000 Democrats and less than 2,000 Republicans. It’s really hard to say what this year’s turnout will be.”
Despite having an approximate estimate, Dolan encouraged anyone registered to vote to come to the Town Hall during the early voting dates. She said not only was it important to vote, but voting early makes it easier for her department to tabulate the results. Dolan said if residents voted early, the process of casting a ballot would be faster than on election day.
“During election day, the voters have to wait at the high school,” Dolan said. “If they vote early, we can do it here at Town Hall and we have the equipment all in one place so we don’t have to wait there wouldn’t be any type of problem.”
