Out of 4,883 registered voters in Harvard, 1,458 cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary election, according to preliminary accounts. Voters selected the incumbent U.S. Senator Ed Markey to run against unopposed Republican candidate John Deaton and Michael Minogue to challenge Gov. Maura Healey in the Nov. 3 general election.
Harvard voters in both parties followed voters statewide. Against challenger U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, Markey captured 64% of Harvard’s Democratic vote, while statewide he won 65%. In the Republican contest for the governor’s race, Minogue took 75% of the vote in Harvard against Brian Shortsleeve. Statewide, Minogue garnered 76% of the Republican vote.
In the only other contested race on the primary ballots, Democrats chose incumbent Mara Dolan over Margie Palladino to run for Governor’s Council; Dolan’s opponent was not known at press time, since the Republican slot offered only a write-in slot for the position.
Voting on Tuesday
In turnout similar to the last primary election, 29.9% of Harvard’s registered voters showed up, compared to 29.8% in 2022.
While voter turnout didn’t vary significantly from the last primary, Election Warden Dennis Bradley said this election appeared to attract more first-time voters than in the last. The list of inactive voters was also up from the typical half page to more than three pages, according to Election Clerk Peggy Chernoff, who said residents can end up on the list if they fail to return their census forms. The remedy, however, is as simple as showing some kind of identification and attesting to one’s status as a Harvard resident.
By 8 p.m. Tuesday, the very last voter, who had arrived with only minutes to spare, exited the Hildreth Elementary School gym, followed by Officer Tyler Robichaud’s announcement, “Polls are closed.” Assistant Town Clerk Jill Hazelrigg headed for Town Hall to check the drop box, ringing Town Clerk Rose Miranda within minutes to report three ballots in the box. At that, Bradley tapped the vote tabulation machine to print out the day’s tally—including early and mail-in ballots, which were entered in batches of 14 throughout the day. He posted it next to that morning’s zero count and the hourly running vote totals that Chernoff had posted throughout the day. By 8:30 p.m., as workers packed up collapsible voting carrels, tables, chairs, and two 8-foot “Vote” signs, poll workers Meg Bagdonas and Bonnie Chandler, who’d arrived at 2 p.m., guessed they’d be home by 10.
‘A right and a duty’: One poll worker’s perspective
Resident Meg Bagdonas started volunteering as a poll worker more than 10 years ago after responding to a public plea for workers from the town clerk at the time, Janet Vellante. Newly retired, Bagdonas said she’d thought working at the polls was “one more thing I could do to support democracy.”
“That was back when we had a manual voter check-in process using giant voter roll books that took some effort to flip through.” Voters had to line up by street names to align with the organization of the books. “After the polls closed, we tediously tallied up votes on every sheet in each book and balanced them,” she said.
The introduction several years ago of Poll Pads—electronic check-in devices that are not connected to the internet—allowed workers to get the ballots to voters more quickly, Bagdonas said—and to abandon “those cumbersome books.”
“It sometimes feels weird to ask and repeat back every voter’s name and address—even if they are neighbors or friends of many years. It is so any observer can hear as well as see the entire process. It’s all about transparency,” Bagdonas told the Press.
Reflecting on the changes she has witnessed over the years, Bagdonas recalled fond memories of accompanying her parents into a curtained voting booth to operate a hulking voting tabulator by means of various levers. Her job was to flip the lever that reset the machine and automatically opened the curtain. “Times have really changed since then, but I still believe voting is every person’s right and duty,” she said.
Primary election 2026: Did you know?
A semi-closed primary
Unaffiliated registered voters can participate in either party’s primary. At the check-in desk, a poll worker will ask the voter which ballot they want; this will not affect the voter’s independent status.
Ballots’ chain of custody
A Harvard police officer accompanies the town clerk, along with election materials including mail-in and early-voting ballots, from the town vault to the polling place at 5:45 a.m. An officer stays at the polls through voting time, and travels with election officials and materials back to Town Hall after workers wrap up their duties sometime around 10 p.m. On Tuesday, officers Eddie Coffin and Tyler Robichaud each took a shift at the polls.
Change in ballot colors
Democratic ballots have been pink for many years, while Republican ballots have been rendered in blue. This year, the colors flipped, by direction of Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin.
Nonpartisan poll workers
Poll workers are volunteers under the direction of Town Clerk Rose Miranda and Assistant Town Clerk Jill Hazelrigg; they are trained through the secretary of state’s office. Although the positions are nonpartisan, by tradition the town attempts to tap a mix of unenrolled, Republican, and Democratic volunteers, who are appointed by a vote of the Select Board. Among the volunteers are an election clerk and an election warden.
Checking the vote tabulation machine
Before voting begins at 7 a.m., the election warden prints out the count on the vote tabulation machine and posts a printout showing the total number of votes for each office. On Tuesday, a receipt from 6:30 a.m. showed a zero count next to each office on the ballots; the last printout would come at about 8:20 p.m.
150-foot rule
Campaigning is not allowed within 150 feet of the polls, and that line is clearly marked by a sign on the grass median at the HES parking lot. Not included in the ban are exit pollers and other noncampaign “meeters and greeters,” who are allowed within 150 feet of the polls.
Election observers
None turned up at the Sept. 1 election, according to poll workers, but observers are allowed in a clearly marked area behind the check-in table. They can interact only with officials, never directly with voters, according to state law.
