FRAMINGHAM - Framingham City Clerk Lisa Ferguson and her team are hard at work to prep for election season locally, as voters have until Saturday, August 24 to register to vote in the Massachusetts primary election on Tuesday, September 3.

While one can generally expect a lower amount of voters in September compared to the general election—especially during a year when the presidential vote is on the ballot—Ferguson is hoping for at least a 35% voting turnout within Framingham for the primary. Much of that, she explains, will come in the form of mail-in ballots.

“Even though we’ve had (vote by mail) around for a few years, it’s really ramped up through COVID…We used to have 50% of the voters voting early in-person; now we’ve seen it changed,” Ferguson said in an interview with The Frame.

Applications to vote by mail in the state primary are due at 5 p.m. on Monday, August 26. Those ballots can be dropped off in front of the City Clerk’s office at the Memorial Building, behind the Memorial Building itself, or at the McAuliffe Branch Library on Water Street. Mail-in ballots for the primary must be received by the city by 8 p.m. on September 3, though Ferguson has asked residents to try to return those votes as soon as possible. Those ballots cannot be dropped off at a polling location, and they must be signed by the voter.

While residents begin to fill out the ballots that have been mailed out to them—Ferguson noted that more than 10,000 vote by mail ballots have been sent out across Framingham leading up to the primary—city election officials are preparing to test voting machines. Members of the public are able to view that process beginning on Monday, August 19.

Early voting will  be offered in Framingham for the primary election as well. Voters can head to the Memorial Building from Saturday, August 24 through Friday, August 30. Hours for early voting at Nevins Hall will vary. The McAuliffe Library will also have early voting between Monday, August 26 and August 30. Voting there will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., except for that Friday; polls will close at noon at the library on August 30.

As for September 3 itself, polls at Framingham precincts that day will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The most notable primary races in Framingham appear on the Democratic ballot. State Representative for the 7th Middlesex District Jack Patrick Lewis is facing a challenge from Carlton Phelps, a Trustee of the Ashland Affordable Housing Trust and member of the Ashland Democratic Town Committee.

Four nominees on the Democratic Party ballot are vying for the District 2 spot on the Governor’s Council, the group that is elected to advise Governor Maura Healey on matters such as pardons and appointments: Tamisha Civil, Muriel Kramer, Sean Murphy, and David Reservitz.

GOP voters in Framingham will not be presented with any locally-based races during the primary. The one race on that ballot is for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator, as Bob Antonellis, Ian Cain, and John Deaton are all bidding for a seat in Washington, D.C. The Republican nominee will move on to face Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

Of course, the work at the City Clerk’s office doesn’t stop after the final primary votes are tallied. Ferguson said many of the next steps leading up to November 5 come at the state level, but her team has already received applications for mail-in voting for the general election.

“Generally, it takes two to three months to prepare for an election,” Ferguson continued.

“But when you have a primary and a general within a few weeks of each other, we’ve been busy with the election since July.”