The supply of ballots for Tuesday’s election had been depleted town wide by 5 p.m., an employee of the town clerk’s office has confirmed.
Residents voting after that time were voting using makeshift photocopied ballots that could not be fed through the town’s voting machines and will need to be hand counted, in all likelihood delaying the official results, the employee added.
The Marblehead News first learned of possible problems in administering the election when a voter in Precinct 1 reported arriving at the Old Town House around 6 p.m. and being told he would be unable to vote temporarily because the precinct had run out of ballots.
The voter said that poll workers told him that more ballots were being delivered but could not say when they would arrive.
The voter added that, when he mentioned the lack of ballots to people holding signs across the street from the Old Town House, one of those people commented, “here, too?” suggesting that at least one other polling location had experienced a similar issue.
Polls closed at 8 p.m.
The Marblehead News will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
If you had trouble voting today, let the Marblehead News know about it at info@marbleheadnews.org.
Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist.
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