After delay, locksmith opens vault containing Barnstable primary ballots
BARNSTABLE – Election Day in Barnstable started later than expected Tuesday after the town clerk was unable to open the vault where ballots are stored. The vault was eventually opened by a locksmith Tuesday night just before 8 p.m.
The clerk notified the Secretary of State's Elections Division that they were unable to access the ballots in order to send them to polling places.
Polls were set to open at 7 a.m., but didn't open until after 11 a.m. after the clerk printed emergency paper ballots.
Massachusetts Sec. of State William Galvin obtained an order requiring Barnstable polls to stay open until midnight. Galvin said the good news is more than 4,000 people voted early in Barnstable.
The paper ballots will need to be hand-counted at the end of the night, which could result in delayed results.
Almost 12 hours of drilling by a locksmith finally did the trick Tuesday night. After the vault was opened, election officials decided to continue using the emergency ballots.
"We're very concerned about it," Galvin said, adding "The most important thing is that every voter gets the right to vote."
Town Clerk Ann Quirk said the ballots were in the vault secured in suitcases. Workers had accessed the vault over the weekend, but when they went to get the ballots Monday at 4 a.m. they were unsuccessful.
"When they went to open the door, it would not open. I came down, and did the same thing several times. It would not open," Quirk said. "I don't know what happened to the door overnight, but it broke is the best thing I can say. It broke."
Quirk said there are also about 50 completed mail-in ballots in the vault that had been removed from the Town Hall mailbox over the weekend.
The town clerk also said colleagues from around Cape Cod offered to help count ballots once they finish working at their own polling location.
"I wish it didn't happy. But it happened," Quirk said.
The town clerk says only 7% of the voters there typically cast ballots in a primary and she vowed that all vault gremlins would be dispatched by the November election.
