Across Massachusetts, voters will pick their party's candidates for various state offices, including candidates for a new legislature (or, in many districts, the uncontested candidates from last year's legislature) that will arrive in Beacon Hill this winter, in primary elections today.
These preliminary elections typically have very light turnout, so the people who do show up to vote can have an outsized influence in shaping local and state politics.
And because Massachusetts is effectively a single-party government, today's elections will essentially determine the winners of the final election in November.
