Nearly Half Of Massachusetts Primary Voters Submitted Mail-In Ballots

BOSTON (CBS) -- Massachusetts allowed mail-in-voting for the first time in the Sept. 1 primary, and new numbers show a lot of voters took advantage. A plurality of voters chose to cast their ballot by mail as opposed to showing up to the polls in person on Election Day.

Data from Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin shows 812,973 people returned ballots by mail. That amounts to 47.6% of total ballots cast.

Another 685,859, or 40.2%, voted in person on Sept. 1, Galvin said. The rest, 208,160 or 12.2%, either voted early or hand-returned their mail-in ballots.

A record 1.7 million people voted in the primary, and turnout is expected to be even greater in November.

Anyone who hasn't already requested a mail-in ballot should soon be seeing an application for one in their mailbox. Ballots will start being mailed out in the first week of October, Galvin said.