Malden Voter Turnout Expected to be Featherweight in Upcoming Special Election

The Stanley Cup final. The Whitey Bulger trial. The end of the school year.

These are among the reasons, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin said, potential voters appear to be neglecting this coming Tuesday’s Senate election.

“The Special Election has a lot of competition for attention,” he said in a press release.   

Requests for absentee ballots have dropped by almost 28 percent: nearly 49,750 voters had filed for absentee ballots as of Thursday, down from 63,610 a week before the January 2010 Special Senate Election that pitted Republican Scott Brown against Democrat Martha Coakley. 

Malden City Clerk Karen Anderson said of the about 29,000 registered Malden voters, only 10 percent voted in the Aprl 30 primary that decided the candidates for this coming Tuesday's special election. 

“It hasn’t been good,” Anderson said. “It’s going to be better [Tuesday], but it’s not going to be great.”

Anderson guesses between 20 to 25 percent of registered voters will be at the ballots this Tuesday.

The vote will determine who will fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat, previously held by John Kerry, who is now U.S. Secretary of State.

A Boston Globe poll this week put Democrat Edward Markey ahead of Republican Gabriel Gomez by 13 points. Ed Markey is from Malden.

For residents unable to make it to the polls, applications for absentee ballots must be filed by Monday at noon. Voting is Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

You can find out where to vote in Malden here.

Will you be voting? Let us know!