By Mary Byrne and Jesse A. Floyd, Belmont Voice staff
National results trickled in late Tuesday night, but Belmont’s results were clear.
According to unofficial election results, Vice President Kamala Harris outpolled former President Donald Trump in Belmont, 10,568-2,828.
Those numbers mirrored the statewide results, where Harris defeated Trump, 2,072,291-1,234,799), collecting the state’s 11 electoral votes. Nationally, however, Trump secured far more than the necessary 270 electoral votes to secure the presidency.
As for the ballot questions, Belmont voters narrowly voted against Question 2, opting to keep the MCAS in place as a graduation requirement. Statewide, however, the question passed.
With a voter turnout of 75%, Town Clerk Ellen O’Brien Cushman said turnout appeared a little lower than in previous presidential elections. In 2020, 85% of registered voters cast their ballots; in 2016, 82%; and in 2012, 80%. According to the clerk’s office, Belmont has 18,864 registered voters.
“It went great,” said Cushman. “It was a constant flow of people all day.”
According to Cushman, roughly 7,600 of the 14,157 ballots cast in Belmont this election were cast prior to Election Day. A little more than 2,000 of those ballots were cast during in-person early voting, with the remainder being mail-in ballots.
More than 100 volunteer election workers helped make the day run smoothly, she said. Cushman also credited Assistant Town Clerk Meg Piccione and office staff members Dan Cane and Nancy Casale.
“People were patient,” she said. “We didn’t have a single issue in Belmont.”
Absentee ballots still need to be counted, she noted, and total election counts won’t be certified until Nov. 20.
“The Town Clerk’s office is looking forward to a restful Thanksgiving,” she said.
State Results
In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Elizabeth Warren beat challenger John Deaton 10,088-3,628, also mirroring state results.
On the ballot questions, of which there were five statewide, voters in Massachusetts passed ballot Question 1: Should the state auditor be allowed to audit the legislature?; Question 2: Should the state eliminate the MCAS as a graduation requirement?; and Question 3: Should rideshare drivers (such as Uber and Lyft) have the option to form unions?
Meanwhile, voters in Massachusetts rejected Question 4: Should there be limited legalization and regulation of natural psychedelic substances?; and Question 5: Should there be an increase in the minimum wage paid to tipped employees?
Question 6, a nonbinding question gauging support for single-payer health care in Massachusetts, passed in Belmont, 8,256-4,587. The question only appeared on ballots in 11 districts. With its passage, Belmont voters have supported instructing Rep. Dave Rogers to vote for legislation to create a single-payer system of universal health care. The question, however, is non-binding and merely a way of polling the electorate as legislators prepare to re-file the legislation.
Supporters of the bill, Mass-Care, had not compiled complete data as of press time.