SOUTHAMPTON — The town of Southampton saw a steady stream of voters at times and a lull in voters at times throughout the state’s presidential primary on March 5.
According to Luci Dalton, the town clerk for Southampton, 1,580 of the 4,527 registered voters in Southampton voted during the primary between mail-in ballots, early in-person voting and in-person voting on March 5.
Out of that 1,580, 863 walked through the polling location on March 5, 15 participated in early in-person voting from Feb. 24-29 and 702 voters submitted mail-in ballots. According to Dalton, over 1,100 ballots were mailed to registered voters.
“[We had] a very low turnout for Southampton for a presidential preference election,” Dalton said. “We think maybe the weather held voters back from coming in.”
President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary in Southampton with 590 votes, while former President Donald Trump carried the most votes out of the Republican candidates with 535. A total of 75 voters voted “no preference,” according to the tally.
Dalton told Reminder Publishing that there will be mail-in voting for the local election on May 21. The town’s Board of Registrars will be discussing whether there will be in-person voting for that same election.
Nomination papers are available at the town clerk’s office for the local election on May 21 for various elected seats, which can be found on the Southampton website. There are openings on the Selectboard, Finance Committee, Zoning Board of Appeals, the Conservation Commission and more.
As a reminder, Dalton said that if voters are receiving a letter from the town clerk’s office that says they are “unenrolled,” it does not mean they are off the voters’ list; it just means they are unaffiliated with a political party.
“If you were listed as ‘unenrolled’ and chose your ballot, you will stay unenrolled — i.e. Independent, Unaffiliated — your political party did not change because you chose a certain ballot in the primary,” Dalton said.
There is a calendar hanging up on the town bulletin board and on the town website, and if anyone has any questions about their voter status and voter registration deadlines, they can contact the town clerk’s office at 413-527-8392 and follow the town website and Facebook pages for up-to-date information, according to Dalton.
