GREENFIELD — Voter turnout for the primary election held at Greenfield High School on Tuesday morning seemed to mirror the rest of the state, with about 10.26% of registered voters visiting the polls by about 12:30 p.m.

According to City Clerk Kathy Scott, most of the votes cast were the result of people being able to fill out their ballots ahead of time, an opportunity that did not exist prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s been very slow,” she said in the school’s gymnasium. “We have had a sporadic showing of people in person, but the majority of votes … is because of early voting.”

A three-way race among Republicans for a U.S. Senate seat served as the only contest on the state primary ballot, with Democratic ballots featuring candidates but no contests and Libertarian ballots having no nominees. Elizabeth Warren was running uncontested for the Democratic nomination to retain the U.S. Senate seat she has occupied since 2013. Robert Antonellis, Ian Cain and John Deaton were running for the Republican nomination to challenge her.

“It’s usually slower for a primary [election] than it is [for] a general, lower voter turnout,” Scott noted.

Last week, Secretary of State William Galvin forecast turnout for the primary would hit 15%. If that is correct, it would mean that most of the voting already occurred through in-person early voting and mail-in voting in advance of the Sept. 3 primary.

Galvin’s office reported Tuesday morning that 992,813 ballots were mailed to voters, and nearly 53% of those ballots were not returned. Following the closure of polls at 8 p.m., clerks in the state’s 351 municipalities have four days to certify and report official results. Galvin’s office plans to post results on his elections website after the clerks certify them.

There were a couple of police officers at Greenfield’s polls on Tuesday, as Scott said state law requires the presence of at least one. One of those officers, Greenfield Police Lt. Jason Haskins, said he was there with the department’s Special Operations vehicle “to make sure everyone feels safe going in and voting” in the current political climate.

“We want everybody to feel safe,” he said. “We don’t want people infringing on people’s right to vote.”

Scott mentioned the Greenfield Department of Public Works installed a handful of concrete barriers in front of the entrance to prevent anyone from ramming a vehicle through the doors. There also was a firefighter on site in case of a medical emergency. Scott mentioned there will be heightened security measures with visible deterrents during the Nov. 5 general election.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120. Material from State House News Service was used in this report.