Despite the glaringly contentious presidential race at stake during the 2024 election cycle, Boston voters at multiple polling locations Nov. 5 said they feel optimistic after casting their votes on Election Day.

Boston hosted dozens of in-person voting locations across the city’s 22 wards. The polls were open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at all locations. While 1.6 million residents in Massachusetts voted early, equating to 33.6% of all registered voters in the state, millions more were expected to cast their votes in person before the end of Election Day. 

Boston residents who cast their ballots in person said they felt good about the process and had little to no complications.

“I thought there would be a long line to wait, but you just kind of roll-in, roll-out, five minutes and you’re done,” said Shai Mann-Robison, a 22-year-old programmer and recent Northeastern graduate who voted at the Fenway Center location. “It was nice.”

Many voters said that they decided to vote in person on Election Day because of tradition.

“It’s easy to do mail-in as well, but I feel like it’s almost a little tradition,”said  Jameson Davis, a voter at the Fenway Center polling location. “We were in and out. I don’t mind filling out the ballot in person and saying hello to the people who are taking their time to volunteer.”

Voters said they appreciated the physical aspect of voting in person and that it makes the voting process feel more authentic.

“It’s tradition,” said Harold Brogan, a Boston resident and retired teacher. “I’ve always voted [in person]. At my age, you can’t break tradition.”

Mann-Robison said that he voted with mail-in ballots for the last two elections but decided to switch to in-person this year. 

“It feels a little better,” he said. “It’s a lot nicer to have the physical location. It feels like it denotes the experience in a more real way than doing it at your house.”

Voters said that fears surrounding the potential outcome of the presidential election made them more determined to cast their vote than in previous elections.

“I want to express my opinion and I do that through my vote,” said Haydee Gonzales, a Boston resident and wife of a Navy veteran.

While Americans may not have the results of the presidential race for several days, voters said they were happy to be able to cast their votes today.

“I was counting down the day until I could cast my ballot,” Brogan said. “In fact, I could do it again.”

Election Day 2024 is expected to set a new voter turnout record in the state, Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin said.

Contributing to the increase in turnout this year is the decision of several universities to cancel classes on election day. Eighty six schools across the country including Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Suffolk University, and Brown University opted to not hold classes with the goal to remove barriers and foster civic engagement.

“I’m 22, so I’m sort of starting to discover politics within the last couple years,” Mann-Robison said. “I definitely was not going to miss the polls today because of the presidential election. There’s no question about that.”

Boston residents said they were provided with the necessary information in the voting booth to make an informed decision on running candidates and the five ballot questions.

“I definitely think I was supported with all the information I needed,” Mann-Robison said. “But I spent a bit of time researching the ballot questions before I went in.”

The five ballot questions have received media attention to varying degrees. Many voters said they did prior research before entering the polls, but that the ballot summaries were helpful.

“They did summaries under each question,” said Vitaly Nowel, a Back Bay Boston resident and massage therapist. “I read it ahead of time, so it didn’t take me a half an hour to go through this process here. It was self-explanatory, simple, smooth. I have no complaints.”

Despite fears that election day issues would arise, residents in Boston largely had a streamlined process.

“It’s a historical election — there is just so much at stake for so many different people, even just the nitty-gritty granular stuff on the state ballot,” Davis said. “It is important as well to do your research on those because it can impact a lot of people or businesses in our city and state.”

While Americans across the country anxiously await the outcome of the presidential race, citizens continue to cast their ballots, exercising their rights and political voice.

The election could swing either way with no obvious indication of a winner, according to national polling. An average of 25 polls displayed by 270toWin showed Harris with a lead of 1.2% as of Nov. 4.

The United States may not have a clear presidential winner for several days or potentially weeks to come, as was the case with the 2020 presidential race, the result of which was called four days after election day, and with the Bush-Gore election, but Bostonians remain cautiously optimistic. 

Election day is a reminder of the privilege Americans have in voicing their opinions and participating in the democratic process.  

“As a kid, my dad would take me and my sister with him in the line,” Mann-Robison said. “The three of us would sit in the line together until we got to the front and then he’d go into the ballot box. It was a fun time and a memory I have as a kid that I cherish.”