High hopes for voter turnout

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Northampton and Easthampton's City Clerk's are both hoping for a 50 percent voter turnout for Tuesday's municipal election. This would be a big increase over their 2007 turnouts.

Northampton City Clerk Wendy Mazza told 22News that only 39 percent of voters turned out for the 2007 election. Easthampton City Clerk Barbara Labombard said her town only had 11 percent of voters participate in their 2007 election. But both said that the ballot often determines how many voters come out. Both Northampton and Easthampton have hotly contested races for Mayor, so their city clerks say Tuesday should be a busy day at the polls.

Easthampton has a four person race this year for the mayor's seat. The last time a ballot looked like this was in 1996 when they had six people running for the Mayor's seat. That election brought out 58 percent of the voters, according to Lobombard.

Still, even if both Northampton and Easthampton bring out half the voters, that still means half will not be voting. Lobombard said that many voters only vote every four years for presidential elections. Last year's presidential election brought out 77 percent of voters.