Election season is underway as Dartmouth Town Hall opened its doors on Aug. 22 to residents for early voting in the Sept. 1 primary.

There was no wait in the morning as a “steady stream” of voters made their way to the basement room 103 to exercise their democratic right, according to several volunteers, who were wearing PPE and sanitizing surfaces and booths after every visitor.

New interim town clerk Sarah Arruda was also there to help out — although she doesn’t officially begin her duties until the last day of August.

“It’ll be exciting. So I’ll start on the 31st, and we’ll have the primary on the first,” she laughed.

“Shawn MacInnes, the Town Administrator, has been amazing,” Arruda noted. “He’s been teaching me all the ins and outs.”

“It sounds like the whole Town Hall has been filling the clerk’s position since Lynn retired a month ago,” she said. “Today I’m really here just as a volunteer and to observe the process.”

So far, she said, “It’s fantastic!”

“It’s gonna be super different than what I’ve done as a social worker, but I do think many of the skills will translate,” Arruda noted.

“It’s a new adventure,” she added with a smile. “It’s like if somebody took you to the deep end and kind of pushed you in, but you learn to swim.”

MacInnes also stopped by to make sure everything ran smoothly on the first day. 

“The whole staff has really pulled together,” he noted, adding that many workers from different departments have come in on nights and weekends to help process the 4,600 mail-in and 300 absentee ballots they’ve received to date. “It’s a process.”

“I voted by mail, because I’m lazy,” joked volunteer Louis Lopes, who was handing out stickers. 

Lopes said he’s been helping with elections for five years. “I retired, so I wanted something to do to get me out of the house instead of watching television,” he said with a laugh.

But between jokes, Lopes made it clear how important voting is to him.

“There’ve been hundreds of people who have lost their lives to protect this right,” he said. “I hope it’s never taken away.”

Voter Meaghan Fernandes said that she felt “very safe” coming in to vote. “The staff is very helpful, and they disinfected the area after voted,” she said. “They’re very vigilant.”

Volunteer and retired Army Colonel Robert Freitas helped out by wiping down booths with disinfectant.

“I thought with the Covid, they were going to have problems getting people to come in,” he said.

The Vietnam veteran served 33 years in the Army Airborne, even meeting Richard Nixon while stationed in the White House, where he said he carried the nuclear launch codes.

“He’s the one president that every state voted for, except Massachusetts,” he said. “So every time I walked into the Oval Office, the president would say, ‘Oh, here comes Colonel Freitas, whose state did not vote for me.’”

Now, he’s serving in a different capacity.

“The last election we had, we had what, 16% of the voters voted in Dartmouth?” he asked. “It’s crazy! 84% of the people did not vote? That bothers me.”

As a town meeting member, he said, when he gets calls from people complaining — particularly about issues that come up on the town election ballot — the first thing he asks them is, “Did you vote?”

“And if they say no, well then I don’t want to hear it,” he said. 

“I worry the Constitution is being violated,” Freitas noted. “Every person who serves as a commissioned officer, or some kind of elected position, has to swear allegiance to the Constitution. Not to a person. And I hold that sacred. I took that oath, and I believe in it.”

“More people need to come out to vote,” he added. “I think our democracy is at stake. I have never felt so concerned about the future of our country as I am now.”

In-person early voting will continue at Town Hall through Friday, August 28.