Mail-in, early voting will continue in Belchertown and Ludlow

Date: 2/8/2023

BELCHERTOWN/LUDLOW – The Belchertown Select Board and Ludlow Board of Selectmen both approved early voting by mail and in-person to continue for annual election.

On June 22, 2022, then-Gov. Charlie Baker signed the VOTES Act into law. This required early voting by mail to be available for all town and state elections, state primaries and presidential primaries to make it easier for everyone to vote and theoretically lead to higher turnout numbers.

Belchertown Town Clerk Theresa Camerlin and Ludlow Town Clerk Kim Batista met with their respective executive boards seeking approval to continue early voting by mail and in-person.

If either of the boards decided to opt-out of early voting, they would have to host a public hearing 45 days before the next election.

Batista met with the Ludlow Board of Selectmen at its Jan. 17 meeting. Ludlow’s Annual Town Election is scheduled for March 27.

There were approximately 2,600 voters who voted early either by mail or in-person early in November 2022 according to Batista.

“That’s a general election so you can’t go by that. Presidential election, there would be a lot more,” she added.

Selectman James Gennette asked if Ludlow has seen a rise in voter turnout since vote by mail but according to Batista, there has only been “a little bit” of an increase in voters.

According to Batista, there was an estimated 7,700 voters leading to a 53 percent voter turnout in Ludlow during the November 2022 election.

Although there is small increase, the Board of Selectmen and Camerlin agreed that they would like to see vote by mail and early in-person voting hours to continue to make it easier for those who may not be able to make it to the polls on Election Day.

Selectman Derek DeBarge added he would like to see the schools closed for town elections like they are for state elections.

“It is more of a safety issue than a convenience issue to not have our schools in session during town election,” he added.

Camerlin met with the Belchertown Select Board at its Jan. 23 meeting.

Select Board Clerk Peg Louraine said, “The more opportunities the people have to vote the better.”
At the last election in November 2022, there were 685 people who took advantage of early voting hours in-person. An additional 4,246 residents requested an early vote-by-mail ballot but only 3,606 of those residents returned early vote by mail ballots according to Camerlin.

Camerlin added, “There are not many issues when it comes to municipal elections when it comes to early voting by mail. We have more of an issue at volume and processing is going to come at state election.”
Camerlin did share one concern with early in-person voting.

“It extends the day for working,” Camerlin said. “If we have it held during normal business hours, that extends our day from 7 a.m. to around 8 p.m. at night.”

Camerlin asked the board if they could reduce the early in-person voting hours for municipal elections.
To reduce stress on her staff in advance of the May 15 Annual Town Election, she recommended early voting hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 3 to 5 and May 8 and 9, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 10.
Camerlin added that there were only 111 residents who took advantage of the early in-person voting hours at the special election in October 2022.

Select Board member Ed Boscher asked if it was worth keeping the early in-person voting hours if the vote by mail option is always available.

Camerlin said that she planned on allowing people who were looking to vote early do so in her office instead of hiring additional staff.

She added, “I am confident that we could handle the small amount of people that choose to vote in-person. There are quite a few people who enjoy in-person voting and are grateful. I do not think it would cause to much of an issue to hold it in my office during office hours.”

The Select Board approved the reduced hours for the early in-person voting for the town election on May 15.