Early voting in Massachusetts officially underway ahead of Election Day
BOSTON - Ballot boxes were busy Saturday as Massachusetts residents took full advantage of in-person early voting.
From Roxbury to Needham and all communities throughout the state, voters were anxious and excited to cast their ballots.
"Why did I decide to early vote? I am just anxious to make my voice heard," said Michael Gustat in Needham. "The sooner, the better. It's going to be a tough race, I'm excited to get it done."
Convenience important
For Maria Jones of Dorchester, early voting is very convenient.
"Early voting is very important because of people's hours and times, weekends they can come and vote," Jones said. "They can vote after 5 and 6 o clock and they don't have to worry about that one day."
At Needham Town Hall, there was a steady flow of voters with a lot of important issues on their minds.
"So much at stake about climate change and values that are really important to me, our community, my children," said Kate Carter.
No voter fraud concerns
Secretary of State Bill Galvin said he's pleased so far with voter turnout with more than 1.4 million ballots in the hands of voters already and believes the concerns around voting fraud are not an issue.
"Here in Massachusetts, it's only paper ballots," said Galvin. "Voters when they come here today they are going to get a ballot, they are gonna mark the ballot. They're going to see the names of the candidates they want to vote for and they, themselves, are gonna put it in the ballot box."
Angeli Nair came to vote with her daughter, Arohi, who is voting for the first time. She's a student at Yale at wanted to cast her ballot early.
"I definitely watched a lot of the debates at school with my friends and I think that really helped me to make an educated decisions about my vote," said Arohi Nair.
The in-person early voting process will take place until Friday, November 1. People have until October 26 to register to vote or update their address.