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A voter has the entire row of voting booths to himself as rain falls across the area while voting at Andover High School during the state primary on Tuesday.

Haverhill poll worker Lynn Ricketts, right, watches over Stephen Hannigan as he feeds in his ballot to the counter in the Tech Center at Northern Essex Community College during the State Primary Election on Tuesday. 9/5/22

Lawrence City Councilor at Large Celina Reyes, right, and other campaign supporters hold signs in the rain outside the South Lawrence East Elementary School during the State Primary Election on Tuesday. 9/6/22

Lawrence Residents wait to check in before receiving a ballot to vote at the South Lawrence East Elementary School during the State Primary Election on Tuesday. 9/6/22

A voter has the entire row of voting booths to himself as rain falls across the area while voting at Andover High School during the state primary on Tuesday.

Haverhill poll worker Lynn Ricketts, right, watches over Stephen Hannigan as he feeds in his ballot to the counter in the Tech Center at Northern Essex Community College during the State Primary Election on Tuesday. 9/5/22

Lawrence City Councilor at Large Celina Reyes, right, and other campaign supporters hold signs in the rain outside the South Lawrence East Elementary School during the State Primary Election on Tuesday. 9/6/22

Lawrence Residents wait to check in before receiving a ballot to vote at the South Lawrence East Elementary School during the State Primary Election on Tuesday. 9/6/22

Voter turnout looked light at the Marsh School in Methuen and at Andover’s Cormier Youth Center on Tuesday afternoon, but looks can be deceiving.

“It’s been kind of slow, but we’re also processing mail-in ballots and early ballots and absentee ballots,” said James Redmond, clerk for Andover’s First Precinct. “I think they’re getting used to the process.”

That process was redefined by the VOTES Act, which was upheld by the Supreme Judicial Court in July and makes it easier to cast ballots using remote methods.

“The use of mail-in ballots or early voting gives them options, so if they can’t get here to the polling place, instead of running here before they go to work or after work or at their lunch hour, they can take advantage of it,” Redmond said.

But there was still a steady trickle of voting in person in Andover at around 2:30 p.m., and this included Richie Fink and Cheryl Rothstein, who weren’t deterred by the rain.

“We’re waterproof,” Fink said.

There were some races with crowded fields, such as the contest for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ballot, which featured three entries. But Rothstein was motivated by respect for the process of voting as much as by any particular candidate.

“I just believe in voting, so I come out every time,” Rothstein said.

Chris Swain of Andover, on the other hand, said he was moved to vote primarily by the contrast between Republican gubernatorial candidates.

“I’m a registered independent, and I decided to do the Republican ticket to make sure to vote for Chris Doughty,” Swain said. “Jeff Diehl is not my kind of candidate. A little too radical. I’m a big fan of Charlie Baker, a moderate Republican, and I’d like to keep that in place as much as possible.”

Swain said he was also looking forward to voting “yes” on Ballot Question 1 in November, which will raise taxes by 4% on people making over $1 million per year.

“I’m actually for it, although the more I’m reading about it, we’re at a surplus right now in Massachusetts, so it’s not for need of money,” Swain said. “I think it’s equity more than anything else.”

Chris and Jessica Bird turned out in spite of the fact that today was the first day of classes at Phillips Academy, where Chris teaches English. Both Democrats, they both were inspired to vote for Maura Healey for governor and for Andrea Campbell for Attorney General.

Jessica, a writer, said they usually see eye-to-eye when it comes to politics.

“He’s a little more radical,” she said.

Linda DiGloria, a precinct clerk working at the Marsh School in Methuen, said she believed that the rain, and the fact that Tuesday’s was a primary election were responsible for a light turnout in her city.

She also thinks that children going back to school had an impact on how their parents voted.

“We got hit at 9:30 this morning, once the kids went to school,” DiGloria said.

But there were still a number of voters at the polls with a range of reasons for making their voices heard.

Alexander Vannett felt it was important to cast his vote for Republicans Geoff Diehl and Leah Cole Allen for governor and lieutenant governor.

“I liked his platform, the conservatism of it,” Vannett said.

Robert Bellavance wanted to vote for Methuen’s own Diana DiZoglio, in part because she is a friend of his daughter, who is a journalist, he said.

But Bellavance also believes that as auditor, DiZoglio would go after the kind of corruption that his daughter recently wrote about in Rhode Island.

Grace Pena was also moved by personal reasons to vote for Democrat Estela Reyes, who was running for state representative against two other candidates.

“I worked for her for many years, and I know she will do a good job,” Pena said.

Kevin Gillespie said his vote reflected some sense of contentment with the way things are going in Massachusetts.

“I don’t have a lot of issues with what’s currently going on, so I voted with some of the incumbents,” he said.

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