davis_square | What does early voting look like?

It was pretty efficient when I went yesterday, mid-afternoon, with short lines. You first go to sign in, which is split in thirds alphabetically. They give you a manila envelope with a sticker with your name/address/ward. You then go to a second station where you're given the actual ballot. There were probably 25-30 booths to fill out your ballot in.

The parking area around City Hall has quite a few parking spaces reserved for voters, with 15-minute limits, but it was a bit messy getting in and out -- you're better parking nearby, walking, or taking a bus.

I voted yesterday morning, getting in line right before early voting opened at 8:30. You wait in the hallway leading to the Aldermen's chamber, and go to a table based on the first letter of your last name. They look you up on a list, check you off, give you an envelope (labelled with your name and address), and send you into the Aldermen's chamber. In the chamber, another official gives you the appropriate ballot, and you go to a booth to mark it. Then you deposit it in your ward's ballot box and leave. There was no "check out" step as there is in regular voting. It was pretty efficient, and I was done by 8:45.

There were plenty of booths; nobody had to wait for one to become available.

Edited 2016-10-25 13:50 (UTC)

What's the "check out" step you'd do in "regular" voting? This is my first time voting in MA; in NH, after you submitted your ballot to the ballot counting machine, you were done. What's the last step?

In regular voting, you check in, get a ballot, mark it, then check out at another table before depositing the ballot. Checking out is the same as checking in -- they ask your address and name, and mark you off a printed list.

Edited 2016-10-25 14:28 (UTC)

I must say I am very excited to vote early! I have not researches or looked into the reasons why people are opposed to it but to me it makes sense to have multiple days - to say technically if the whole US population voted on the same day ( which I know everyone does not, which is a shame) it is very overwhelming.

Anyways very excited to do this part now! (if only the election itself was over :-( )

Yeah. I mean, you don't want to start so early that something could happen that would change your mind... but it's nice to have a couple days of flexibility.

> why people are opposed to it

Easier voting means higher turnout, higher turnout means more Democratic votes.

I was very impressed with the organization--in and out in minutes. The only issue I had was handing in the ballot. You have to put it into an envelope that has your name and address on it before you put it in the slot....how is that confidential voting?

It's confidential because the poll worker isn't going to actually examine your ballot when they're processing the information on the envelope. It's the same with an absentee ballot.

What happens is that we go through the stack of envelopes and reconcile them against the voting rolls. We then cut them all open with a letter opener and remove the ballots. Next we take the stack of ballots over to the tabulator and feed them into it. Theoretically, someone could glace at both your ballot and your name on the envelope when they're opening it, but in practice they won't. Especially not at City Hall where they will have a huge stack of early votes to get through.

Edited 2016-10-26 17:44 (UTC)

Thank you. I appreciate your information.

It's as confidential as absentee voting. Actually, it's a lot like absentee voting (I'll be using it because it's so hard for me to get up the hill to my assigned polling place, while the early-voting location is very accessible) only you don't need to give a reason you can't be at the polls on Voting Day. I know people in other states who agonize about whether they are "disabled enough" to qualify for an absentee ballot.

They could just say they'll be out of town that day.

On the Medford side, the voting is similar; greeter on the first floor who sends you upstairs to the council chamber, tell them your street (ward and precinct if you know it), they hand you ballot and envelope, you go to one of 8 booths, vote, seal envelope, fill out form on outside of envelope, drop in box.

I went around 2pm today. In a strange coincidence, almost everyone who showed up at 2pm had names between M-O or whatever our group was. So it did take a few extra minutes for us. Just a random event, though. I think in our line there were maybe 6 people, but ~6 others across the other letter groups were in and out quickly as we waited.

Otherwise stuff was flowing pretty smoothly. Plenty of staff at each station. Pretty active, but flowing fine.

Felt like regular voting, not like a second class thing.

I went to work late today and tried to vote on my way (10:15am). There was no parking available. I looped around the lot twice and then left.

Hopefully I have better luck later in the week.

The parking spaces usually reserved for aldermen (and other city officials?) were relabelled as 15-minute parking for voters only, when I was there yesterday morning.

Early voting is open until 7:30 this Thursday evening, as well as Monday through Thursday next week. It will also be open both Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm. Schedule here

Edited 2016-10-26 00:03 (UTC)

Yep, those spots were there and marked, but full.

Even worse this morning at around 10:45am, with a parade of cars slowly circling like we were at the mall the day before Christmas. I am going to wait until election day.

Edited 2016-10-27 15:24 (UTC)

The lot is the only nearby parking?

Try it on Saturday or Sunday, when the high school is not in session. Or just park on a nearby street - don't you have a Somerville parking permit? (Or walk, or bike, or take the bus ...)

Edited 2016-10-27 21:49 (UTC)

If you get rid of the convenience then there is no point in early voting for me. It would take me more time to walk or take a bus to early voting than it would take for me to vote in person on election day. Street parking looked like a nightmare near city hall, with heavy traffic and side streets under construction.

Somerville is not holding early voting out of the kindness of its heart, it was forced to do so by the state. Voter advocacy groups called for at least 1 polling location for every 35,000 residents and Somerville set up one for 78,804 residents, and they set it up nowhere near the city's two MBTA stations. They literally made the bare minimum effort for something they had to do. The effusive praise I see from some is unwarranted.

Look at all of the locations that Cambridge set up for early voting: https://www.cambridgema.gov/election/earlyvoting/earlyvotinginperson

Why didn't Somerville do this?

Edited 2016-10-31 13:45 (UTC)

On the other hand, Somerville had early voting on Sunday, while Cambridge and most other towns and cities did not. On Sunday (and Saturday) you would have had no parking problem since the high school is not in session. There will also be early voting today through Thursday until 7:30 pm, which is also after the high school lets out.

City Hall is not especially convenient to Davis Square but it's not that far away. With a bike you can get there in 10 minutes. If you put the voting location in Davis Square, it would be far away from people in East Somerville, Winter Hill, and Union Square. Perhaps there should be two early-voting stations in 2018, so consider this year a dry run.

I voted this morning on my way to work. I parked my car in a "Smart Car Only" parking spot that another voter had just vacated (with their also not smart car) then worried about being towed as I voted. Thankfully it didn't take long.

They should have had two locations, as was recommended. I think the sensible locations would be one near Davis Square and one near Assembly Square.

You say "City Hall is not especially convenient to Davis Square." The entire point of early voting is to be convenient. I wanted to be able to stop on my way to work. Anything else (especially going there on the weekend, when I don't even drive) is going out of my way. I understand that some people see early voting as a way to vote with extra enthusiasm, but that's not why it exists.

Cambridge did a great job. With the variety of locations and the variety of hours they kept, I don't think they really needed Sunday.

I agree that there should be two locations in the future, but Assembly Square is a terrible choice for the second one, as almost nobody lives near it and it's at the far edge of the city. Davis Square or Union Square or somewhere in East Somerville would be a much better choice.

Saturdays and Sundays are much more convenient than Tuesday for many people who work during the week.

Edited 2016-11-01 01:28 (UTC)

I went tonight, the first night it was available after 4:30. Got there around 5:!5, I think, and I was done with the whole thing in about 12 minutes.

I was so impressed by the organization and ease of the process. I am always amazed by the dedication of poll workers, and they were at the top of their game this evening. The group checking people in inside the polling area had decided to do something special when they identified a new voter. A shout would go up from their table of "FIRST TIME VOTER!!!!" and the whole table would break into cheering and applause. It was hiiarious. I thought it might be embarrassing for the person involved, but as I was leaving City Hall, the young woman in front of me said into her phone: "Mommy, I voted!" and then she said "They clapped for me!!!".

I love voting, always, but tonight it was a special pleasure. Thanks to Somerville and Massachusetts for Early Voting -- it's the best!

Chiming in from Cambridge: I voted at the library branch on Rindge on Wednesday. There was a small line; the librarian I spoke to said each day there was big line right after people got out of work (so 5:30 to 6:30pm?), but other times it's been a steady trickle.

Early voting is absolutely amazing and is something we should have had all along. I went right after early voting started and there was hardly anyone there at 2pm. I felt like the overall experience was basically the same as voting on election day but just with slightly different elements like putting your ballot in an envelope and depositing in a box at the end for your ward. It really was pretty simple and it seemed like the number of booths was similar to election day voting.

I guess as we get closer to election day the parking and lines may get worse at Somerville city hall but still I'd imagine not as bad as election day itself. It would be great if there was a way to know what the lines are like at any specific time like with the RMV. If you park slightly farther away and walk a little the lines inside I'd imagine will still be shorter than Nov 8th. Though I have no idea what they're actually like I'd imagine there may be concentrations of early voting intensity but given the days and days of time to spread it out in general it'll be easier and faster to vote this way.

I went Saturday 10.29 at 4PM and there was no line. Plenty of people voting, but processed efficiently.

Voted today (Tues ) @ 3 pm and aside from the traffic associated with school getting out, it was all quick and easy. I will admit I missed a little of that "we're all doing the same thing on the same day" feeling but I can live without it.

I feel at peace. One more week of this horrendous election cycle.

Sometimes i wish a new comment would "bump" a thread/post up to the top (of course not always mind you). But wanted to say voting was easy and very organized - was very pleased with the whole process.

What does early voting look like?

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