Rain eases, dry weather expected until polls close

February 5, 2008 02:10 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

Helen Webster cast her ballot early this morning at the Yawkey Club in Roxbury.

By Andrew Ryan and Matt Viser, Globe Staff

The gray, gloomy rain that had soaked early primary voters stopped this afternoon when storm clouds moved south. The dry weather is predicted to last until after the polls close at 8 p.m., which may give turnout an extra bump in an election that is expected to draw 1.3 million voters across the state.

“There is a chance of light rain again tonight, but not until after the polls close,” said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.
By noon in Boston, ballots had been cast by more than 44,000 people, which is almost 13 percent of the city’s 345,000 registered voters. Early turnout was especially heavy in Back Bay and Roxbury.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin predicted that more than a million voters, more than 30 percent of the state's 4 million voters, will show up at the polls, drawn largely by the excitement spilling out of this year's elections.

The turnout could meet or surpass that of the 1980 presidential primary, when nearly 44 percent of Massachusetts registered voters went to the polls, the highest primary turnout since records were first compiled in 1948. In the 1980 primary, George H. W. Bush ran against Ronald Reagan in the Republican primary, and Edward M. Kennedy challenged President Carter.

In 2000, the last time there were competitive primaries in both parties, Massachusetts voters cast almost 1.1 million ballots. About 700,000 voters turned out in 2004, when the primaries were held March 2 after many other states had already voted and when President Bush was uncontested for the Republican nomination.

After trudging to polling places today under gray skies, voters relied on a variety of factors to make their final decisions, from their study of nitty gritty details of the candidates’ heathcare plans to their stances on the war in Iraq.

Senator Hillary Clinton “did vote for the war to begin with,” said Nate Jordan, a 26-year-old electrician from Hyde Park. “Barack Obama, from the jump, was against it. So was I.”

For some, it was an easier decision.

“I’m a woman, what do you think?” said a voter walking with a cane at Blake Estates, when asked whom she supported.

Grace Giannangelo, a 69-year-old supermarket worker from Hyde Park, shared that same enthusiasm for Clinton in the Democratic primary. “It’s always been mostly men,” Giannangelo said. “It would be quite a change, really.”

In the Republican primary, some voters seesawed between Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

“I went with Mitt,” said Andrew Niles, a 28-year-old accountant from South Boston. “I do like John McCain a lot, but I think he’s getting too liberal for my tastes.”

Ann Kleponis, an 83-year-old South Boston resident, made the opposition decision and chose McCain when she voted at the L Street Bathhouse. “I don’t like Romney,” Kleponis said. “I don’t think he did a good job as governor, and I don’t want him to be my president.”

Outside Boston, elections officials reported a strong but not overwhelming turnout.

“It’s heavy, but not packed like we expected,” said Gail Cenik, officer manager for the Election Commission in Lowell. “It’s pouring up here. I think if the rain lets up, it will be a different story.”

Intermittent rain also slowed voting in Springfield, where officials described turnout as moderate. “The weather isn’t helping,” a city election official said.

At Newman Elementary School in Needham, more than 300 people had cast ballots by 8:30 a.m. “It’s busy,” said Tedi Eaton, the town clerk, who expected 60 to 70 percent of the Needham’s 20,000 registered voters to turn out.

In Dunstable on the New Hampshire border, two people were waiting outside the public library at 7 a.m. when the polling place opened. In Greenfield in the western part of the state, 7 percent of the town’s 11,000 registered voters had cast ballots by 10 a.m.

"That's pretty good for that time of day," said Town Clerk Maureen Winseck. "It’s been very steady. We have people still streaming in despite the weather."

Globe photographers and Yoon S. Byun and Mark Wilson contributed to this report.