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Town Clerk shares recommendations for early voting ahead of primaries

FILE PHOTO/JOHN CARDILLO

Staff from the Town Clerk’s Office will be at Town Hall tomorrow to assist residents as early voting in the state primaries gets underway.

Town Clerk Connor Degan explained his office has to be open tomorrow in accordance with state mandates. Saturday is the commonwealth’s deadline for voter registration. Ten days prior to an election, towns have to provide residents the opportunity to get registered, he said.

“Ten days prior to Tuesday will always be Saturday,” said Degan. “It’s different when we have Monday elections for [the] town.”

The office will be open to register voters from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and early voter ballots will be accepted from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The office will continue to accept early ballots during normal office hours up until the primary on Sept. 1.

Those who wish to vote early have two options: mail in ballots or drop them at Town Hall. The Town Clerk’s Office will accept ballots in person, and there is a drop box in front of Town Hall for off-hours collection.

Degan encouraged those mailing in ballots to make sure they are sent back well in advance of election day. “If it doesn’t arrive on election day in the mail, it might get [here] too late,” he said. As well, he encouraged unenrolled voters to be sure of which primary ballot they want — Democrat or Republican.

“That’s the thing that gets the most confused around primaries,” Degan noted.

While he anticipated lower turnout for this round of voting, Degan stated his office had sent out around 2,000 early ballots to residents. He shared that offering this option gives citizens who might otherwise not vote a chance to participate in elections.

In-person state primary voting will take place Sept. 1 at the Hopkinton Middle School gym.

— NICK SCHOFIELD

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Photo of the Day

Joel Wall (left) and Linda Merril hit the dance floor during the Hopkinton Senior Center’s ice cream social Thursday.

PHOTO/WILLIAM DURFEE