Massachusetts voters stressed about election rush to meet early voting deadline
WATERTOWN - Friday marked the last day of in-person early voting in Massachusetts and voters had any number of motivations to head to the polls.
But during our conversations on Friday, we found common ground among voters in this incredibly divisive election.
"These elections have just gotten more and more difficult," said Sean Degan of Watertown.
"It's been chaotic. It's been pretty tense," said another voter.
Voters feel fatigue, anxiety
There was a line out the door at Watertown City Hall as voters rushed to meet the early voting deadline. We found just about everyone felt fatigue, anxiety, and stress when it came to this election cycle.
"It's definitely been a little bit frightening you can tell there is a large contingency of the population that feels really differently than I do on a lot of issues and that can be really scary," said Watertown voter Keeley Bombard.
"It's exhausting for sure," said another voter. "I think it's the constant cycle of the news and the ads."
The Massachusetts Secretary of State's office reports more than 1.6 million people cast their ballot early. That number represents about 32% of registered voters. The state says two-thirds of early voters cast their ballot by mail.
"It's been a very stressful cycle," said Degan. "It feels really good to have been a part of it, but the stress is going to remain there until Tuesday and then probably long after Tuesday as well."
"The new way of American democracy"
We asked presidential historian and Boston University professor Tom Whalen about how this political climate stacked up to elections past.
"We've never faced this, not in our modern time," Whalen said.
He said the stress and anxiety being reported around this election reminds him of the "Hanging Chad" debacle of 2000, but the temperature and hostility supersedes anything he's studied in the modern political era.
"It's the new way of American democracy," said Whalen. "Or what's left of it because now violence is very much woven into the fabric of our election and political system."
He continued, "We are a very lucky nation. No matter what crisis we face we always seem to fall out of trees and land on our feet."
