In Agawam, a whopping 90 percent of the voters showed up at the polls.
The spirited battle for president won by Barack Obama, coupled with strong grassroots efforts to get out the vote were among factors that helped trigger record and near-record turnouts in Springfield and nearby communities on Election Day Tuesday, observers said.
In Springfield, there was a record number of ballots cast – 54,655 – topping the prior record set in the 2008 presidential race when Obama was first elected.
“Needless to say, I was very elated by the turnout,” said E. Henry Twiggs, chairman of the Springfield Democratic City Committee and a Ward 4 city councilor. “The grassroots effort in getting out the vote was just fabulous.”
And in Agawam, a whopping 90 percent of the voters cast ballots, setting a record in that city. A total of 14,443 of the city’s 16,045 registered voters cast ballots.
“I think the turnout is what should be happening not just in this election, but in every election,” said Agawam Town Clerk Richard M. Theroux. “Everyone should come out and vote. It is a quick process. We try to make it as easy as possible.”
He attributed this year’s high voter turnout to the fact that there was a presidential race, a contest for U.S. Senate and a local competition for state representative. First-term state Rep. Nicholas A. Boldyga, R-Southwick, defeated his Democratic challenger Samuel S. Di Santi.
In Springfield, Twiggs and Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola said they witnessed political action groups canvassing neighborhoods to get out the vote in the days leading up to the election. Twiggs estimated he himself was lobbied a half-dozen times.
“The campaigning we had to get out the vote was beyond what I had witnessed in my lifetime,” said Twiggs, 73, a political activities for the more than 50 years.
In addition, since 2008, the number of registered voters has grown by approximately 10,000 in Springfield to the current level of 94,724 due to a concerted voter registration drive that peaked this year, officials said. Despite the record vote in Springfield on Tuesday, the turnout percentage of 57.7 percent did not set a record.
Sixty percent of Springfield’s voters cast ballots in the 2008 election.
Twiggs and Oyola said the race between Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and the U.S. Senate race between Elizabeth Warren and the Republican incumbent Scott Brown, won by Warren, helped galvanize voters and political action groups.
All 64 precincts in Springfield had solid votes in favor of Obama and Warren. Citywide, Obama captured 79.5 percent of the vote, and Warren captured 73.9 percent of the vote in the Senate race.
In many precincts, the vote for Obama was more than 90 percent and more than 85 percent in favor of Warren.
In Ward 4C, at the Mason Square library, 98.1 percent of the voters favored Obama, getting 679 votes. Romney received 12 votes.
In all eight precincts of Ward 4, more than 90 percent of the voters favored Obama.
The turnout in Springfield ranged from a high of 76 percent in Ward 7B, Frederick Harris School in East Forest Park, to a low of 38.4 percent in both Ward 1H and 3C, the Good Life Center downtown and the Gentile Apartments in the South End, respectively.
Local officials have been concerned about low turnout in Springfield in recent years, including a 22 percent turnout in the 2011 election, 35 percent in 2010, and a 25 percent turnout in 2009, along with much lower turnouts in the primaries. The turnout in the past has been particularly low in some of the poorer neighborhoods, including the North End, South End, Six Corners and Mason Square areas.
Northampton had a near-record turnout, with 78 percent of registered voters casting ballots for state and national races and 71 percent voting on a local ballot question to revise the city charter.
Mayor David J. Narkewicz, who did a lot of traveling between City Hall and election parties Tuesday, attributed the high numbers to a combination of the hotly contested presidential and U.S. Senate races and the local ballot question. ”There was a fairly strong number of folks out,” he said.
In Westfield, voter turnout in the election was 71 percent or 17,880 of the total 25,062 eligible voters.
“I think the turnout was very good,” said City Clerk Karen M. Fanion. “I had thought it would be a little higher, maybe 78 percent.”
In the 2008 presidential election, the Westfield turnout was 76 percent.
Fanion was unable to explain the large turnout, but noted “There was a rather large voter registration push associated with Westfield State University.”
In Holyoke, voter turnout Tuesday was 63 percent to 64 percent, meaning 16,251 to 16,509 of the city’s 25,796 registered voters cast ballots, Assistant City Clerk Louise K. Bisson said.
It was a long day, she said, but voting proceeded without major problems at the 14 voting precincts.
“We were busy beyond busy, but it was pretty good, just crowds everywhere and lines, but everybody got to vote,“ Bisson said.
In Chicopee, the turnout was 65 percent of the registered voters, which was slightly below the 68 percent of people who voted in 2008. However, there were also a record number of people who registered to vote this year, with 35,782 signing up before the election.
The actual number of people who voted in both elections is nearly identical. In the 2008 presidential election, 23,478 cast ballots; four years later, 23,189 voted, City Clerk Keith W. Rattell said.
“What this looks like is more people are registered to vote, but less people voted,” he said.
In West Springfield, Town Clerk Otto J. Frizzell reported that 67 percent of the voters, or 11,587 of that community’s 17,288 registered voters, cast ballots.
Greenfield Town Clerk Maureen Winseck said the town hired extra workers to staff the polls and do paperwork as 74 percent of Greenfield’s voters came to vote, a turnout identical to the last two presidential elections.
“We always get a big turnout for presidential elections,” she said.
In Easthampton, 9,076 cast ballots or 76 percent of the electorate. In 2008, the total was 77 percent, said City Clerk Barbara LaBombard.
“It’s pretty consistent,” she said. “There were no problems. We got the day we hoped for.”
Easthampton voters also considered a $1.4 million property tax override, which was rejected.
Staff writers Sandra Constantine, Fred Contrada, Ted LaBorde, Mike Plaisance, Jeanette DeForge and Diane Lederman contributed to this report.