By Carolyn Kravets and Annika Morris
Boston University News Service
Massachusetts polls opened this morning at 7 a.m. and since then, Bostonians have eagerly lined up to cast their ballots.
The Fenway Community Center functioned as a polling location for the 2024 Presidential Election. A sign advertising “VOTE HERE” in four different languages marked the opening of the location. Multilingual signs posted outside of the polling station displayed voting procedures and ballot guidelines.
Inside the building, polling booths were laid out in an open room, as floor-to-ceiling windows let in natural light. Poll workers laid out stickers for the taking on a desk, and voters left the building with them in hand or displayed on their chests. One couple took a selfie with their stickers outside of the front doors.
1282 Boylston St. saw a high voter turnout, with about half of the votes counted at this location coming from early voting, according to Clerk Chelsea Arnold. This was Arnold’s first presidential election working as a clerk. Arnold worked previous local Massachusetts elections, starting during the COVID-19 pandemic to alleviate “at-risk” individuals working the polling centers.
Arnold said that a high concentration of college students have contributed to the high voter turnout. The community center assists in registering first time voters, often helping students with frequently changing addresses. She said she expects to stay long past the polls close to make sure all votes are counted.
The Fenway polling location did not face many issues related to party-specific merchandise or branding. Arnold said she took down signs within the immediate premises of the polling center.
“No other poster, card, handbill, placard, picture or circular intended to influence the action of the voter shall be posted, exhibited, circulated or distributed in the polling place… or within one hundred and fifty feet of the building entrance door to such polling place,” according to Section 65 of the Massachusetts legislature.
Josiah Starkey, 32, cast his vote at the Fenway Community Center as a way to “participate in the process that’s required to uphold the state of our democracy.” Other registered voters reflected this sentiment in a recent Gallup poll; respondents placed concern for American democracy second to the economy as the most important issue in the election.
Benedict Dsilva, a Boston resident of 20 years, echoed the thought process.
“[Voting is] important because it’s crucial to democracy, but also crucial to the entire world peace,” he said, acknowledging the role the President of the United States plays in global politics. Dsvila said he was “exercising his right to make sure he was able to support the candidate he thought would be best for the country.”
Paola G. said she decided which candidate to support with her vote earlier today. Like Dsilva, she said she also participated in the election by voting at the Fenway polling location.
Growing up in Boston, Paola said she was concerned for safety around the increase in scooters and bikes in her community. To Paola, she said this election means change — she came out to vote so that her voice could be heard.
Regardless of their favored candidate or the motivations behind their choices, voters are turning out in a high volume to make sure they are doing their part.
