Your vote today is crucial. Period. Unfortunately, Tuesday is (typically) a “work day.” If you’re particularly patriotic and took the day off from work (or class) to cast your ballot, more power to you. If, however, voting is on your list of to-do’s – sandwiched between breakfast, “other crap,” and dinner, don’t panic. BostInno has put together a list that, we hope, will help you plan your day.

By 8 p.m. on September 24 – once polls throughout the City closed for the preliminary election – 113,222, or 30.75 percent of Boston’s 368,207 registered voters, had cast a ballot. Turnout for tomorrow’s general election has the potential to be higher; perhaps as much as 5,000 more ballots could be cast – such was the case in 1993 (you know, the last time we did something like this). If that happens, lines will be longer.

If you want to avoid the longest polling lines, preliminary voting results supplied to BostInno from the City of Boston Election Department indicate “the early bird catches the worm” theory still applies.

Sept. 24 Voter Turnout by 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

• 9 a.m. – 17,804 ballots cast
• 12 p.m. – 39,451 ballots cast
• 3 p.m. – 61,813 ballots cast
• 6 p.m. – 86,305 ballots cast
• 8 p.m. – 112,804 ballots cast

Based on these results, it appears your best bet to avoid long lines and save yourself some time is to vote between 7 a.m. – when polls open – and 9 a.m., since just under 18,000 people, or about 5 percent of registered voters, cast their ballot during this time. However, take into account that the data from this timeframe comprised two, not three hours of voting.

Between 9 a.m. and noon, however, only approximately 21,000 more ballots were cast – a less than 6 percent increase from the 9 a.m. total. So, if you can take your break at 11 a.m., shorter lines might be in store.

The Sept. 24 stats show turnout begins to ramp up in the afternoon, with a greater than 6 percent turnout rate between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., and a nearly 6.5 percent increase in turnout between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. During those six hours, about 47,000, or 41 percent of all preliminary election ballots, were cast.

To put that into perspective, about 32 percent of all ballots were cast between 7 a.m. and noon. While in the final hours – between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. – about 26,500, or 23.5 percent of all ballots were cast.

So, the earlier the better, it would seem, if you want to avoid the longest lines. If 7 a.m. is too early, you might be in luck, since turnout slowed between 9 a.m. and noon on Sept. 24. If, however, you have to race to the polls after work, prepare to wait: statistics show polls are busiest between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Image from dailymail.co.uk