Key decisions, but low turnout, expected in Boston and elsewhere on Election Day, top state official says – The Boston Globe

“It’s not acceptable to me. But that’s the range historically,” Galvin said, noting the elections can decide not only who serves in a town or city but how much residents are taxed or critical development decisions. “These really are the elections that affect people where they live.”

There could be even fewer who cast ballots in Boston, where at least four newcomers will join the city council. Galvin, a Brighton Democrat, said he expects turnout to fall below that of 2021, when just 144,380 voters — or 32 percent of registered voters — weighed in on a historic race that saw Michelle Wu become the first woman and person of color elected mayor in the city’s history.

This year, Tuesday’s election follows a dramatic preliminary vote in September when voters in two districts ousted city councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara, marking the first time in at least four decades that incumbent councilors were knocked out of contention during the first round of voting.

Two other seats are being vacated by District 3 Councilor Frank Baker and Michael Flaherty, a veteran at-large councilor. There are eight candidates on the ballot for four at-large council spots, which represent the entire city. Three of those — Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, and Erin Murphy — are incumbents.

Voters will also determine whether Sharon Durkan, a political organizer who won the District 8 in July, will be granted a full term in a rematch against Montez Haywood, a long-time prosecutor in the district attorney’s office.

Galvin urged voters in Boston and other communities who requested, but have yet to return, a mail-in ballot to not put it into the mail, given the ballots would need to be received by the close of polls on Tuesday in order to be counted. He said voters are better off putting a ballot into a local drop-box or hand-delivering it to their local elections office.

Polling hours can also differ from city to city outside the typical window of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In Springfield, voters will decide a mayoral race between longtime incumbent Domenic J. Sarno and City Councilor Justin Hurst, whose campaign has been marred by voter fraud allegations. Hurst has adamantly denied that his campaign has paid for votes after video footage emerged showing a Hurst campaign volunteer peeling off bills and handing them to people outside City Hall after they voted early late last month.

Galvin said Monday that he essentially knows what “the public reports have indicated,” and that his office referred an inquiry to prosecutors.

In Quincy, the city’s longest-serving mayor is seeking an unprecedented seventh term against City Councilor-at-Large Anne Mahoney, who’s argued that Koch’s administration has increasingly become out of touch with residents’ concerns.

Residents will also elect new mayors in Revere, Melrose, and Marlborough, among other places. And incumbents in Woburn, Medford, and Gloucester are also trying to keep their seats.

In the Legislature, the only race is a closely-watched special election in central Massachusetts, where Democratic state Representative Jonathan D. Zlotnik and Republican state Representative Peter J. Durant are seeking the Worcester & Hampshire seat vacated by Anne M. Gobi, a Democrat, when she joined Governor Maura Healey’s administration earlier this year.

Democrats currently outnumber Republicans, 36-3, in the chamber, though the district is considered far more competitive than most around the state. Outside of Worcester, parts of which are included in the district, Republicans (nearly 13 percent of voters) and unenrolled voters (roughly 69 percent) make up higher shares of the electorate there than they do statewide.

Durant is also no stranger to close races. In 2010, he was initially declared the winner for his state representative seat where he emerged by a single vote — 6,587 votes to 6,586 — over Geraldo Alicea, the Democratic incumbent.

But a judge ruled that one absentee ballot that was initially discarded could be counted for Alicea, putting them into an exact tie. The judge ordered a new election, which Durant then won by 55 votes.

Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.