Galvin Predicts Lighter Turnout Than 2010 Election

The state’s top election official expects fewer voters to turn out at the polls Tuesday than in 2010, the last time Massachusetts held an election for governor.

Secretary of State William Galvin predicts 52.5 percent of registered Massachusetts voters will participate in the election. His specific guess is about 2.26 million votes.

There are about 4.3 million registered voters in the state, including inactive voters.

Galvin bases his analysis on how many absentee ballots are requested, and he says that number is about 5,000 less than at this time four years ago. In 2010, when Gov. Deval Patrick defeated Charlie Baker to win re-election, over 55 percent of eligible voters took part.

Besides the five-way contest for governor, there are contested races for other statewide offices, for U.S. Senate and for three congressional seats.

There are also four statewide ballot questions.

Galvin attributed some of the public’s interest in this election to those ballot questions.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

With reporting by State House News Service and The Associated Press.

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