
electionsoffice012423
The Election Commission office at Newton City Hall. Photo by Dan Atkinson.
In a few days, the nation will pick a new president, Massachusetts will pick a senator and Newton will pick a new state representative.
Early voting ends Friday, and Newtonians have been taking advantage of it.
As of Tuesday, Newton City Hall has received about 20,500 ballots for the Nov. 5 election. Of those, 15,779 were mail-in ballots and the other 4,721 votes were cast early in person.
That means about a third of Newton’s registered voters have already voted in the 2024 election.
In case you haven’t, here’s a guide for Election Day.
Where and when
The city has a map of all polling places on its website, so you can find your polling place easily.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The candidates
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Nominee, is facing off against former President Donald Trump, the Republican.
Engineer and entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai is running as an independent candidate, with Crystal Ellis as his running mate.
Educator and community organizer Claudia De la Cruz is running as the Socialism and Liberation nominee, with Karina Garcia, also an educator and community organizer, as her running mate.
Georgia political activist Chase Oliver is running as the Libertarian Party nominee, with businessman and economist Mike ter Maat as running mate.
Dr. Jill Stein running as Green-Rainbow nominee, with University of California Professor Butch Ware as her running mate.
There’s a Senate race on the ballot, with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren seeking to defend her seat from Bolton attorney John Deaton.
Newton technically has two state representative races, but only one is contested now.
In the Middlesex 11th district race, Democrat Amy Sangiolo, former Newton city councilor and attorney with the Attorney General’s Office, is competing for that seat against Republican Vladislav Yanovsky, director of education at the Boston Career Institute.
The 12th Middlesex seat only had Democrats in it, so primary winner and former City Councilor Greg Schwartz is unopposed on the ballot in the general election.
The tiny bit of Newton that sits in the Middlesex 10th district, held by state Rep. John Lawn, doesn’t have any challengers this year.
The ballot questions
This is a big year for ballot questions. There are five of them, and a couple of them could have major impacts in Massachusetts.
Question 1 asks voters to grant the state auditor the authority to audit the state legislature.
Question 2 asks if the MCAS exam should be removed from high school graduation requirements.
Question 3 asks if rideshare employees should be allowed to form unions.
Question 4 asks voters to legalize the use of certain plant-and-fungus-based psychedelic drugs.
Question 5 asks voters to bring the $6.75-an-hour minimum wage for tipped employees up to the $15 regular minimum wage and allow employers to split employees’ tips among other staff.