Towns See Low Turnout for Primaries

It might have been only 1 p.m., but by early afternoon neither Hopkinton nor Holliston had voter turnout exceeding 4 percent.

In Hopkinton, 382 voters had been to the polls since they opened at 7 a.m., less than 4 percent of the registered voters. By comparison the primary in 2010 had 18 percent of the town's voters return ballots by the end of the day.

said she was unsure why the turnout was so low, but did mention that the Democratic National Convention and the lack of local campaigning may have attributed to it.

"I've had some people come up to me and say that they didn't even know there was an election today," Click said.

In Holliston, much of the same story has been told. Of the towns similarly sized voter population, only 310 had shown up.  said it was a slower than normal election day.

The polls in both towns are open tonight, and the clerks were optimistic that voter turnout would increase after business hours when people are returning to town from work. 

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