Stoughton Exceeds Statewide Voter Turnout Percentage This Presidential Election

A record number of Massachusetts voters went to the polls this past presidential election, with almost 3.2 million votes cast on Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012. The 3,184,196 votes cast represents 73.3% of registered voters in the Bay State, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Stoughton exceeded the statewide turnout percentage with 77-percent of Stoughton voters heading to the polls, with 13,989 of 18,149 registered voters in town casting a ballot on Nov. 6.

Voters preferred Democratic Party candidates Barack Obama/Joe Biden for President and Vice President and Elizabeth Warren for U.S. Senate both here in Stoughton and statewide.

The statewide vote total this November was about 81,000 more than the turnout from the November 2008 presidential election, which was the previous record, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

In Stoughton, about 130 more people went to the polls in 2012 than did so in 2008. However, based on percentage of voters casting a ballot, turnout in Stoughton was down from 2008, according to statistics from the Town Clerk's office. In the 2008 presidential election, 82-percent of Stoughton's then 16,892 registered voters went to the polls (13,860).

Still, 2012 has been a busy year for the Stoughton Town Clerk's Office with a Presidential Primary in March, the Town Election in April, the State Primary in September and the Presidential Election in November.

The number of people who turned out to vote in the Nov. 6 Presidential Election almost doubled the the amount of people who voted in the first three elections this year combined (13,986 vs. 7,001).