Westborough's Voting Scanners Go Through a Check

Westborough's five voting scanners counted ballots for the Sept. 6 state primary this morning, with Town Clerk Nancy Yendriga the only registered Westborough voter present.

None of the votes count.

What counts is that after today's required public test at , the scanners, one per Westborough precinct, are working properly for next Thursday's primary, Yendriga said.

"What it's telling me us what's on the ballot," she said while the machines ran.

"Because it's a state primary, it's three ballots: Republican, Democratic and Green Rainbow."

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 6.

Precincts 1 and 3 will vote in the gym. Precinct 2 will vote in the gym. And Precincts 4 and 5 will vote at the , Yendriga posted on the Westborough town website.

The voting machines will go to the schools next Wednesday, the day before the election, Yendriga said.

The scanners -- "the brains of the operation" -- on top, will go out next Thursday.

"The police officers come to my office and they take all of this voting equipment out," Yendriga said.

There are 11,178 Westborough residents eligible to vote in this primary, Yendriga said.

Of these, 6,434 are unenrolled, 2,850 are registered as Democrats, 1,852 are registered as Republicans, 28 are registered as Libertarians and seven are registered as Green Rainbow. There is one Westborugh resident registered in each of these parties: Green Party USA, Socialist, Inter 3rd Party, Veteran Party America and Pirate.

Westborough's turnout for the last state primary, for governor, on Sept. 14, 2010, was 1,629, or 15 percent, Yendriga said. The Sept. 16, 2008 state primary, held during a presidential election year, drew 1,125 voters, or 9.8 percent.

Residents with questions are asked to call Yendriga's office at 508-366-3020. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. to noon Friday.