Supermarkets in Worcester give voting a new flavor

WORCESTER - There were announcements on the public address system. There was an election day lunch special, a "good-sized" haddock filet with french fries and cole slaw for $3.99. And wedged between the rotisserie chicken counter and the baked goods: the polling booths.

"This is great," Dianne Mann, a 23-year resident, said after casting her primary election ballot at, of all places, Price Chopper. "I'm going to get my cart and get things for dinner now."

Mann was one of hundreds of Worcester residents who voted in neighborhood grocery stores yesterday. The city is the first in the state to put polling places in supermarkets, and the move drew not only rave reviews from shoppers and voters in Worcester but attention from other cities and towns.

"My peers across the entire state have been calling," said David J. Rushford, the Worcester city clerk. "They all want to say, 'How do you do this?' "

Never one to be outdone or willingly cede the customary "first in the state" mantle, Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston sent emissaries hurtling west on the Massachusetts Turnpike yesterday afternoon after he learned about the supermarket voting.

"He has sent his representatives to Worcester today to observe how it went and what challenges there may be in using similar polling locations in Boston," said Dorothy Joyce, Menino's spokeswoman.

Rushford said that moving the polling places entailed months of work, from obtaining approvals of the local disability and elections commissions to finding willing merchants with enough space.

"You can't have it in the cheese and spumoni aisle," Rushford said. "You've got to have it partially secluded, like in a cheese shop or coffee shop off to the side."

The city settled on four locations: the Price Chopper on the north side of the city, a Shaw's Supermarket on the southwest side, and a Stop & Shop and a Big Y World Class Market in the southeast.

The goal, Rushford said, was to increase voter turnout and boost business at the stores, while at the same time eliminating the use of schools as polling places.

He said there had been issues with traffic and parking at elementary schools that potentially put both voters and students in danger.

In February, an 86-year-old man seriously injured an 8-year-old girl in Randolph when his sport utility vehicle struck her as he was trying to find a parking spot at her school so he could vote.

"There are lots of reasons why school buildings can be unsafe places for the general public to have open and free access," said Rushford, who oversees elections in the city.

According to two Worcester officials briefed on the moves, keeping school children safe from predators was also a major concern. Last year city officials began cross-checking voting rolls with police records of convicted sex offenders and found that many of the 118 registered level 3 offenders regularly voted in elementary schools, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The markets also had big pluses, such as vast parking lots, bright lighting, and accessibility for disabled voters. Most of the stores also are in convenient locations.

"They're right in the middle of our voting districts," said Joshua Meduna, assistant director of elections in Worcester.

At Shaw's in Webster Square, nearly 300 people had cast ballots by 1 p.m. at some two dozen polling booths lined up next to the check-out counters. Store managers had removed a seasonal display of soda pop and set up a table with free coffee and doughnuts along with some if its marketing about gas discounts for frequent customers.

"I like it better here," said Clorinda Pouliot, a 72-year-old lifelong resident of Worcester who had parked her shopping cart in front of the polling area before casting her ballot. "I shop every day."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.