Area town clerks say they have seen an uptick in voter registration as Wednesday’s deadline to register approaches as well as voters eager to take advantage of the state’s new early voting period.
“People want to vote early now, and I have to tell them it starts (Monday),” said Maryellen Scott, Northampton’s senior clerk.
Under a new state law, voters can cast their ballots for the presidential and state elections before Election Day on Nov. 8.
Other area clerks say the increase in voter activity is normal for a presidential campaign year.
“It’s like any presidential cycle,” said Amherst Town Clerk Sandra Burgess. “We are sitting on hundreds of registrations and expecting hundreds more to come in.”
Burgess said registration this year is not comparable to years when there is not a presidential election. This year voters will also decide on four statewide ballot questions: approving another gaming slots license, expanding the cap on charter schools, regulating farm animal containment and legalizing recreational marijuana.
Burgess said her office has been busy in particular with registering students and handling online registrations, both of which she said have been a success.
Easthampton City Clerk Barbara LaBombard said her office has been processing many online registrations.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Easthampton reported 12,131 registered voters — the first time LaBombard has seen it go over 12,000 since she became city clerk in 1994.
But LaBombard sees voter participation declining in off-year elections.
“It is hard to say — we’ll go below 12,000 again. We see this every four years. There is a big jump and then it will go down again,” she said.
With early voting in effect for the first time this year, LaBombard thinks overall voter turnout of early voters and Election Day voters will be bigger than usual.
Town clerks are gearing up for those early voters. “We have a very aggressive early voting schedule,” said Carlene Hamlin, town clerk of South Hadley. “We’re offering almost 90 extra hours here in the town clerk’s office and have been advertising it for the last six weeks.”
Hamlin also has seen an increase in voter registration, with the total reaching 11,158 as of Tuesday afternoon. She said registration usually hovers around 10,000.
“South Hadley has a lot of character and soul that takes pride in our voter exercise,” she said. In the previous presidential election, South Hadley topped western Massachusetts in voter turnout, with about 94 percent of the community coming out to vote, according to Hamlin. She is optimistic for this election as well.
“I don’t think we will do any less this year,” she said. “We are full steam ahead with our election stuff to get up and running Monday morning.”
In Northampton, Scott says young people, especially students from Smith College, are coming out “more than ever” for this election.
She said her office has been handling 100 to 150 registrations per day in the last week and a half, much more than years without a presidential election. “This is a unique election, on top of that,” she said. “This is my fourth presidential election, and we’re just getting everybody from all walks of life. Everybody wants to have their vote count.”