HopNews Editor-in-Chief Peter Thomas will join Tom Nappi and the HCAM-TV team tonight with live election coverage and results beginning at 8:00 PM.
UPDATED 7:10
This will be the final update until we go live on HCAM at 8:00 PM to announce results. At this hour the vote count stands at 2,626, with the most support coming from Precinct 5, who clocked in 24% of the vote.
UPDATED 6:07 PM
We are crushing last year’s vote totals, having achieved 2,361, or about 20% of the registered voters in Hopkinton. Precinct 4 and 5 have both delivered more than 500 voters each, with Precincts 2 and 3 right behind them.
Vote totals:
| Precinct 1 | 306 |
| Precinct 2 | 474 |
| Precinct 3 | 483 |
| Precinct 4 | 512 |
| Precinct 5 | 586 |
| Total | 2,361 |
UPDATED 5:15 PM
Precinct 5 coming in hot, picking up another 67 voters in the past hour, its biggest increase since the 12:00 – 1:00 hour. The voter tally is now at 2,108, more than double the number of voters in the May 2023 election.
Vote totals:
| Precinct 1 | 273 |
| Precinct 2 | 413 |
| Precinct 3 | 437 |
| Precinct 4 | 473 |
| Precinct 5 | 512 |
| Total | 2,108 |
UPDATED 4:10 PM
A huge pickup from Precinct 4 as it brought 53 more voters in the last hour. Precinct 1, which has been lagging all day, added 40. A total of 1,910 votes have been cast, or 14% of the total population of registered voters.
Vote totals:
| Precinct 1 | 252 |
| Precinct 2 | 382 |
| Precinct 3 | 400 |
| Precinct 4 | 431 |
| Precinct 5 | 445 |
| Total | 1,910 |
UPDATED 3:25 PM
A total of 1,750 votes have been cast at the three o’clock hour. Precinct 5 continues to lead, averaging 35 votes per hour. Precinct 3 is bringing 33 per hour, Precinct 4 sees 30 per hour, Precinct 2 has 25 per hour, and Precinct 1 comes in with just 19 per hour. Town Clerk Connor Degan expect to see a surge of voters between 5:00 – 7:00 PM when many people get off work.
Vote totals:
| Precinct 1 | 212 |
| Precinct 2 | 360 |
| Precinct 3 | 374 |
| Precinct 4 | 378 |
| Precinct 5 | 426 |
| Total | 1,750 |
UPDATED 2:18 PM
This election season has been notable for its civility among the candidates, and particularly in the social media sphere, which is typically chatty as election day gets closer. Even the private Facebook groups such as the Real Housewives and Hopkinton Uncommon have been quiet. It is our opinion that this bodes well for the future of politics in Hopkinton.
UPDATED 2:08 PM
Two charts to share with you. Precinct 5 is starting to pull away, while Precinct 4 picked up the most voters in the one o’clock hour with 47.
As a percentage, Precinct 5 is turning out the best so far, with 14% of registered voters casting a ballot.
Updated totals:
| Precinct 1 | 198 |
| Precinct 2 | 346 |
| Precinct 3 | 341 |
| Precinct 4 | 345 |
| Precinct 5 | 400 |
| Total | 1,630 |
UPDATED 1:41 PM
At the 1:00 PM hour, voters from Precinct 5 are leading all other precincts with 367 votes. Precincts 2, 3, and 4 are not far behind, while Precinct 1 is lagging.
The jumps in Precincts 1, 2 and 3 between 9:00 – 11:00 AM are because of the mail-in ballot counts; election workers scanned mail-ins in reverse order.
Vote totals:
| Precinct 1 | 183 |
| Precinct 2 | 322 |
| Precinct 3 | 314 |
| Precinct 4 | 297 |
| Precinct 5 | 367 |
| Total | 1,484 |
UPDATED 1:08 PM
Jim and Bev Pyne. Voting in Hopkinton for 65 years, have never missed an election, and still in love.
UPDATED 12:33
Candidates are making a final push to voters as they arrive.
UPDATED 12:12 PM
We have already surpassed the total number of votes cast in the May 2023 election. Updated vote totals are below. All mail-in ballots that have been processed.
“This is a good sign,” said Assistant Town Clerk Nicole Levy. “It’s great to see people executing their civic duty.”
| Precinct 1 | 166 |
| Precinct 2 | 295 |
| Precinct 3 | 269 |
| Precinct 4 | 272 |
| Precinct 5 | 301 |
| Total | 1,303 |
UPDATED 10:00 AM
Vote totals by precinct have been posted, and include the mail-in ballots that have been processed. View the precinct map.
| Precinct 1 | 22 |
| Precinct 2 | 237 |
| Precinct 3 | 202 |
| Precinct 4 | 218 |
| Precinct 5 | 238 |
| Total | 917 |
UPDATE 9:20 AM
More on the mail-in ballots: As noted below, Town Clerk Connor Degan’s office sent out about 2,000 mail-in ballots which were requested by Hopkinton voters. Although it didn’t expressly mention “Local Elections”, when voters received their mail-in ballot request form, many checked the “All Elections” box, which opted them in to receive a mail-in.
As of this morning, Degan reported receiving about 800 back, or 40%. It’s not known if these ballots are for people who would have previously voted in-person or if these are for people who wouldn’t have voted otherwise. The vote count at the end will be a good indication.
Regardless, just over 1,000 people voted in the last Annual Town Election, and with 800 ballots received already, all signs point to strong voter turnout in this cycle.
There are just over 13,000 registered voters in Hopkinton. Degan remarked that “22% of voters would be considered a large turnout”. So anything north of 2,860 voters is considered a success.
Degan also noted the system of checks and balances to prevent double voting. If the mail-in ballot has already been received and a voter shows up in-person, the computer will mark their mail-in as “spoiled”. If a resident votes in person, and then their mail-in ballot is received (assuming it was postmarked before today) then their in-person vote will be marked as spoiled.
UPDATE 9:07 AM
It’s Election Day in Hopkinton and the polls are open. Registered voters should head to Hopkinton Middle School at 88 Hayden Rowe Street, and they have from now until 8:00 PM tonight to vote. Assistance is available for voters that are vision and hearing impaired.
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According to Town Clerk Connor Degan, more than 800 mail-in ballots were received and will be added to the vote counts this morning. This is an estimated 40% of the number of ballots his office mailed out.
Hopkinton resident Moira Motyka was the first to vote this morning, appearing at 6:58 AM on her way in to the office. “It’s really important to vote today,” said Motyka. “For me, it’s all about the Select Board candidates and the Prop 2 1/2 override.”
Thanks for the updates
As of 9am, no sign holders for Herr nor Clark. Signs don’t vote, though. Humans do. I’ll be up there later today for Herr/Clark regardless. Thanks for the updates!
Regarding “Spoiled” ballots. If mail in ballots are received today I assume those are checked against the in person rolls also from today and if someone appears twice, the mail in can be pulled as it has a name attached whereas the in person does not. Subsequently, within in the next couple of days we would remove the mail in from the final tally? Who follows up with the voters if they indeed attempt to vote twice? Inquiring minds want to know. thank you.
The mail-in ballot is coded with the person’s name, and those were run through the machine this morning, which updates the computer system the election wardens use to check people in. So if someone had mailed their ballot in, then attempts to check in, the warden will stop them because their vote is already cast. Similarly, if a vote is cast today and then a mail-in ballot arrives, the mail-in will be tossed because the vote has already been recorded. In short, whichever vote is recorded first wins an no subsequent votes are allowed.
I miss the days when dems agreed with republicans that mail in balloting is crazy outside of military personnel overseas voting. Now we have it in town elections!