SPRINGFIELD — With the Sept. 3 primary less than a week away, Reminder Publishing reached out to Springfield’s Election Commissioner and City Clerk Gladys Oyola-Lopez to ask about what can be expected at the polls.
Elections in Springfield are a large undertaking. Of the city’s 154,064 residents, 118,023 are registered to vote. There are 42 polling places to accommodate all those voters. Despite this, Oyola-Lopez said, “We don’t usually have lines on state primary elections. The longest line is two to four voters at any given location.”
This is partly due to the army of people the city employs to administer the election. Springfield has 386 poll workers and 64 of them are wardens. Each poll worker is required to undergo training and swear to “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as an election officer, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the rules and regulations of the constitution and laws of the commonwealth” and of the United States Constitution.
Polls are open in Massachusetts from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., but Oyola-Lopez said the vote returns are usually finished by 11 p.m., although if there is, many write-in ballots may take longer to count.
The city takes election security seriously. Oyola-Lopez explained, “We deploy the election commissioners to monitor the polling locations city-wide. Additionally, a police officer is stationed at each polling site. Ballots are delivered in a secure carrier and election staff deliver vote-by-mail ballots in teams of two.”
While uncommon in Springfield, Oyola-Lopez said people are legally allowed to watch the proceedings. “Poll watchers can just show up and observe, as long as they adhere to rules set forth by the state. However, we encourage poll watchers to contact the election office prior to Election Day to coordinate with our staff. This allows us to share important guidelines and notify poll workers to expect watchers.”
