Politics & Government

Peabody Voting By the Numbers

Here's a look at how Peabody breaks down politically and how the city has voted.

City Clerk Tim Spanos, beleaguered by absentee voters Monday morning, said he expects Tuesday's turnout at the polls to hit around 75 percent -- that's about 26,900 voters in Peabody.

Four years ago when President Barack Obama was first elected, 79 percent of registered voters in Peabody visited the polls -- there was a grand total of 26,441 ballots. And back in 2008, the Obama-Biden ticket took 56 percent of the vote, compared to 41 percent for Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin.

The makeup of the Tanner City's electorate this year is, once again, largely independent or unenrolled voters. There is a total of 35,855 registered voters -- 20,605 are unenrolled, 11,840 are Democrats and 3,266 are Republicans.

Find out what's happening in Peabodywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It remains to be seen how that will play out Tuesday.

Incumbent Republican Scott Brown, for example, earned 59 percent of the vote in the 2010 special election that brought him to the U.S Senate (compared to 40 percent for Democrat Martha Coakley), although Peabody voters have regularly supported Congressman John Tierney against Republican opponents.

Find out what's happening in Peabodywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That being said, Tierney is now in the political race of his life against Republican former state Senator Richard Tisei, and Brown is likewise locked in a heated re-election campaign with Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Spanos said on Monday he was actually seeing a record number of residents looking to vote by absentee ballot. The deadline was Monday at noon and his office was seeing anywhere from 50-100 voters looking to cast their ballots early in the days leading up to then.

It seemed many of them, however, were confusing it with early voting, which was going on in many states, but not Massachusetts, Spanos said.

The Bay State is one of 15 states that does not allow early voting at the polls and a specific reason for needing to vote by absentee.

Anyone who has received an absentee ballot needs to turn it in at the City Clerk's office at City Hall by 8 p.m. Tuesday when the polls close.


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