Secretary William F. Galvin on Monday announced that there was a “significant drop” in voter turnout for the 2024 presidential election in several Massachusetts communities after he received official certified voting results from all 351 cities and towns.
While the Nov. 5 election had the second-highest number of ballots cast in Massachusetts history with 3,512,866 voters participating, Galvin said the turnout represents a drop in participation from the 2020 election, in which 3,657,972 ballots were cast at the height of the pandemic.
“The turnout in Massachusetts appears to reflect a national trend, with a significant drop in participation in several of our cities, especially those with larger minority populations, and a slightly smaller rise in turnout in the more rural and suburban areas of the state,” Galvin said in a statement.
Chelsea saw a 16.7% drop in the number of ballots cast, when compared with the 2020 election, while Everett, Randolph, Revere, Malden, Lynn, and Boston all saw a decrease of more than 10% from that election, according to Galvin’s office.
In Boston alone, turnout declined by nearly 30,000.
While the decrease from 2020 may be partially attributed to differences in voting behavior and lifestyle since the height of the pandemic, a comparison to the 2016 election also shows a drop in participation among Bay State cities, Galvin’s office added.
From 2016, Amherst, Lawrence, Holyoke, Chelsea, and Everett all saw decreases of more than 10% in the number of votes cast.
Galvin noted that the number of registered voters in Massachusetts currently sits at a record high at over 5 million.
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