Swampscott’s Election Day polls opened at 7 a.m., and people were ready to cast their vote and make their voices heard.

“I was born and raised in this town, and I always (vote),” Madeline Romano said. “This is more important to me than anything else.”

Swampscott’s local election is on Tuesday, April 28 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Swampscott High School. Residents are electing candidates to a variety of positions, from the Select Board and School Committee to Town Moderator and Town Meeting Members.

“I always vote,” said Ted O’Neill. “You can’t bitch and moan if you don’t vote.”

Local elections might not grab headlines the way national races do, but they shape the parts of daily life people feel most directly. Decisions about public schools, policing, housing, transportation, and local taxes are often made by the people voters are choosing to represent them.

“The local elections matter so much,” said Shayne Spaulding. “When you’re dealing with real issues and your neighbors, it’s much harder to be partisan about things.”

Local elections determine how communities function day to day. 

“People don’t realize how important local elections are,” said Lauren Shrestha, who served on the Town Election Review Committee. “Local elections are what helps decide things in your everyday life, and they often are the most impactful to your everyday life.”

The National Civic League notes that local election turnout is often less representative of a community’s income, age, and ethnicity, with turnout among affluent voters 30 to 55% higher than among low-income voters.

“The overall impact is that local elected officials and policy are disproportionately influenced by older affluent white voters, undermining our representative democracy and the effectiveness of local governments,” National Civic League writes. “Recent research found that less representative elections contribute to poorer outcomes for minorities, including uneven prioritization of public spending.”

Town Clerk Katie Dupont added that by voting early in the day, people’s civic duties don’t need to be a concern later.

“Sometimes, peoples’ days can get away from them. We have people holding signs and they might drive by and see the high school and think ‘Oh, I’ll do it later,’ and then it turns to 7 or 8 p.m.,” Dupont said. “I think people doing it early, prioritizing it and getting it done, it’s like one of those to-do list things, you get it done earlier, you don’t have to worry about it later.”

Yet, there has been a steady stream of voters since the polls opened at 7 a.m.

“It’s important to make sure you’re represented in town politics and the issues that the candidates represent,” said Michelle O’Donnell.

Many voters also told the Swampscott Tides that local elections have a bigger impact on their lives than federal elections, even if the latter seems “more important.”

“I think right now we’re living in dangerous times,” Karen Bonner said. “Local elections matter as much as federal elections. You have to show up.”

In Swampscott, voters under 30 have the lowest turnout, while those over 65 vote most often.

The Town Election Review Committee has suggested that residents in Swampscott may have skipped voting in the past due to a lack of information about candidates and issues. Chair Marta Sirota and Vice Chair Shayne Spaulding presented data from a townwide survey to the Select Board that showed 38.2% of registered voters in Swampscott said they didn’t vote because they did not have enough information about the candidates or the issues. An additional 26.4% said they were too busy, while 15.5% even admitted to not knowing there was an election. 

Less common reasons not to vote were not being interested in politics (8.2%), not feeling like their vote made a difference, difficulty in accessing child care (4.5%) and that it was difficult to find out when the election was. 

In Swampscott’s April town election last year, just over 16% of registered voters cast ballots. In 2024, the number was higher, at 23.85%, the highest percentage of registered voters electing local officials since 2019, according to election data. 

Within the specific neighborhoods, Precinct 4 has consistently outperformed other areas in the percentage of registered voters going to the polls, at 22.23% average annual turnout since 2016. Precinct 1 has seen the lowest average voter turnout since 2016 at 11.99% on average annually, according to available data. The other precincts, however, tend closer to Precinct 1 than 4 (2 at 14.65%, 3 at 15.86%, 5 at 16.53% and 6 at 18.51%).