Lawrence, Chelsea experience low early voter turnout before Election Day

BY SAMANTHA CHANEY
LAWRENCE- The Secretary of State’s office released data on Friday showing more than 1.6 million registered voters in Massachusetts cast an early ballot. In Lawrence, the turnout was low.
Friday was the last date to vote early in the state and only 7,493 people in the town voted early. That means 15.2% of its registered voters cast their ballot in person or by mail.
“I just said I don’t really want to go on that day and take a day out of work. So, I just mailed it in,”  Edward Nunez told WBZ.
He believes language barriers may be a reason why more people didn’t take advantage of the early voting option.
Rachid Doukali said he’s just waiting until election day, “Because for me, it’s like a special day for the nation, for America.” 
According to the Secretary of State’s office, only 17.8% of registered voters in Chelsea voted early.
“I think people don’t always know that they can or understand that they can,” said Kerry Williams. 
She says she’s voting in person on November 5.
“After what happened in the last election cycle there were a lot of issues surrounding whether or not votes were accurate if they had been sent in early. That was a lot of what caused the January 6 issue,” Williams said. “It matters for me to show up in person to cast my vote because my vote is not for the person who caused that.”  
The early voting deadline has passed, but people are still able to mail their ballot in by November 5. Otherwise, you can vote at your polling place in person on election day.