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Date: 11/30/2022
WORCESTER COUNTY – While Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin suggested turnout for the 2022 midterm elections could be uninspiring, that did not prove true for registered voters in Warren and Hardwick.
Town clerks in both communities reported steady streams of voters on Election Day and strong participation in mail-in and early voting options.
Hardwick reported a turnout of 56 percent with 1,117 of its 1,979 registered voters casting ballots. While he could not speak personally to whether the turnout was typical for a midterm election as he was hired in 2020, he noted a range of between 40 and 60 percent of registered voters casting ballots is historically typical and fluctuates based on the content of the ballot.
“I was anticipating about 60 percent, so I would said I was happy with the turnout … It was steady all day; there weren’t really any lulls,” said Hardwick Town Clerk Ryan Witkos, who added election operations we “very smooth.”
Warren, meanwhile, posted a “decent” 50 percent mark, according to Town Clerk Laurie Stockley.
“It did seem like a good turnout,” she said. “In person, all day, it was steady.”
Both clerks said early and mail-in voting were significant drivers in their respective towns’ participation in the democratic process. Witkos did not immediately have the figures on how many of the Hardwick’s total votes were cast via either early in-person or mail-in voting when he spoke with Reminder Publishing, nor did he respond to a follow-up request before press time, but he said approximately 90 percent of requested mail-in ballots returned, according to Witkos. Warren processed approximately 500 mail-in ballots out of 1,803 total cast.
“Mail-in ballots definitely had an impact,” Stockley said. “With the state sending applications to every registered voter, it was a lot more accessible and a lot of people returned them.”
During an election cycle in which close contested races were few and far between, according to the State House News Service, Galvin theorized in the days leading up to Nov. 8 that turnout would be heavily influenced by interest in the four ballot questions. Witkos said that in Hardwick, he believed that played out and the questions were a “driving force” in voter engagement.
Hardwick and Warren residents went against the grain in rejecting Question 1, which proposed the so-called “Millionaire’s Tax,” a 4 percent surtax on income over $1 million. While voters statewide approved the measure with approximately 52 percent in favor, the opposite was true in Hardwick with 601 voters (54 percent) opposed and 498 in favor (46 percent) and Warren with 997 opposed (55 percent) and 731 (41 percent) in favor.
Local voters also bucked statewide trends in opposing Question 4, which asked voters whether the state should uphold its current state law allowing immigrants lacking permanent legal status to obtain drivers’ licenses. Nearly 54 percent of Massachusetts voters were in favor, however, in Hardwick, 661 (59 percent) opposed the question while 436 (39 percent) cast ballots in its support, and in Warren, 1,113 voters (62 percent) voted against the question while 603 (33 percent) were in favor.
Hardwick and Warren were both more in line with voters across the state on Questions 2 and 3.
Question 2, proposing new regulations for dental insurance, was supported by residents, though not as decisively as it was statewide. While easily passing with more than 71 percent of the vote overall, it received 654 affirmative votes (59 percent) and 447 tallies (40 percent) in opposition from Hardwick voters. In Warren, 1,038 (58 percent) were in favor and 672 (37 percent) were opposed.
The proposal to alter the number of available retail liquor licenses along with other changes posed in Question 3 was strongly opposed by Hardwick voters with 703 (63 percent) against and 381 (34 percent) in favor. A total of 1,084 (60 percent) Warren voters voted against it, while 615 (34 percent) were in support. Statewide, that question was defeated by 55 percent of voters.
In addition to the ballot questions, however, Stockley said there were other factors that may have led to the local turnouts being as high as they were.
“I think that the fact that it was going to be a brand new governor [and] brand new lieutenant governor might have had something to do with it,” she said. “I think when it’s the same people running, the interest isn’t as strong.”
While Attorney General and Gov.-elect Maura Healy and her running mate Kim Driscoll handily won the election with the Associated Press calling the race within minutes of polls closing, the majority of Warren voters favored Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl and his partner on the ticket, Leah Cole Allen. The Republicans garnered 975 votes (54 percent), compared to the 763 (42 percent) received by their Democratic counterparts.
The success of the Republican candidate in Warren was reflected in other races as well as they favored Dean Martilli for the 1st Congressional District seat (52 percent), James McMahon for attorney general (56 percent), Anthony Amore for auditor (52 percent), John Comerford for the Governor’s Council’s Eighth District (58 percent), Bill Johnson for state representative for the Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester District (55 percent), and incumbent Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis (60 percent). Rayla Campbell carried Warren against incumbent William Galvin for secretary of state by the slimmest of margins – 10 votes, 868 to 858. Evangelidis was the only Republican to win those races.
Democrat Deborah Goldberg (52 percent) carried Warren over Libertarian candidate Cristina Crawford (35 percent) for treasurer on her way to a statewide victory.
While Hardwick also leaned to the right, it was not as pronounced. Deihl and Allen received 52 percent of the vote compared to Healey and Driscoll’s 45 percent. McMahon (53 percent), Amore (50 percent) and Evangelidis (58 percent) also carried the town over Democratic opponents. Republican Gary Galonek (50 percent) was preferred by the majority of voters for Governor’s Council Seventh District, but was unsuccessful districtwide.
Incumbent Democrats carried the town in their successful re-election bids race for the 2nd Congressional District, secretary of state, treasurer, Worcester and Hampshire District state senator. Congressman James McGovern edged Jeffrey Sossa-Paguette by 13 votes, 553 to 540, while Galvin (51 percent), Goldberg (57 percent) and state Sen. Anne Gobi (55 percent) earned the majority of the support from Hardwick voters in their respective races.
Stockley also noted a shift in the coronavirus pandemic and its influence on people’s behaviors as a possible contributing factor.
“People are less worried about COVID[-19] and not as cautious about going out, at least in Warren,” she said. “I hardly saw anyone wearing a mask [at the polls].”