Charlie Breitrose
Watertown voters came out to vote in large numbers, both on election day and during the early voting and mail-in period.
Two-thirds of Watertown’s 26,418 voters cast their ballots in the 2024 State Election, according to the unofficial Watertown Election results sent out by the Watertown City Clerk’s Office.
Nearly 60 percent of the 17,542 votes in the election were cast during the early voting period or sent in mail-in ballots, said City Clerk Noelle Gilligan. About 200 to 300 people voted each of the day during the 14 day early voting period. A total of 3,250 residents came to City Hall to vote during the early voting period, Gilligan said, while 7,203 mail-in ballots were sent in.
Many people waited until Tuesday to cast their votes.
“There were lots of lines,” Gilligan said.
The voter turn out was 66 percent in 2024, which was down from 2020 when 76 percent of register voters participated, according to Gilligan.
Results
Watertown voters mirrored the statewide results in Tuesday’s election.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz received nearly 74 percent of the vote in Watertown, with 12,974 votes, and Donald Trump and JD Vance received over 21 percent, with 3,723. The remaining five percent went to the other four parties, write-ins or were left blank. Statewide, Harris/Walz received nearly 62 percent of the vote, according to the AP results with 87.45 percent counted.
Seventy-three percent of Watertown voters backed Elizabeth Warren, who received 12,834 votes for U.S. Senate. John Deaton received 4,223 votes (24 percent). Warren received 60 percent of the vote in Massachusetts.
In Tuesday’s other contested race, Maria Curtatone received 11,858 votes in Watertown, 67.5 percent, and William “Billy” Tauro got 3,248 votes (18.5 percent).
Ballot Questions
On Question 1, calling for an audit of the State Legislature, 66 percent of Watertown voters cast a “yes’ vote, or 11,699 votes. The Yes vote won statewide with 71.5 percent.
Fifty-six percent of the votes in Watertown voters, 9,887, supported “yes” on the Question 2, which removes the MCAS as a graduation requirement. Nearly 60 percent of Massachusetts voters cast yes votes.
The ballot question which would allow ride-app unionization, Question 3, received 10,400 yes votes in Watertown, 59 percent. Statewide the “yes” side received 54 percent of the vote.
The closest vote was on Question 4, which would allow limited use of natural psychedelics. In Watertown 8,541 (48.6 percent) of people voted yes, and 8,233 voted no (47 percent). The ballot measure got the support of 57 percent of Massachusetts voters.
The vote on paying tipped-workers a minimum wage, Question 5, was the only ballot measure opposed by a majority of Watertown voters. The No side received 9,071 votes (51.7 percent) and 7,726 people voted yes (44 percent). Sixty-four percent of Massachusetts voters cast a No vote.
Question 6, which was on the ballot for Precincts 9 to 12 (the 10th Middlesex District represented by John Lawn), 3,598 people (61 percent) supported the non-binding ballot question calling for the State Representative to support universal health care. A majority of voters in the 10th Middlesex, which represents parts of Watertown, Waltham, and Newton, supported Question 6 with 61 percent voting yes.
See Watertown’s precinct-by-precinct totals below. Unofficial-Results-11052024-Watertown