Voting booths stood ready yesterday for today’s primary elections. Candidates in a variety of local and statewide races face off for a spot on the ballot in November.

For the candidates on today’s Mass. state primary ballots, nine months of bitter attack ads, relentless campaigning and infinite photo ops all boil down to voter turnout.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin has predicted a slightly higher turnout than the 1998 election, when 630,000 of the state’s four million registered voters went to the polls.

Broken down by party, of Cambridge’s 57,369 registered voters, there are 32,136 Democrats, 4,489 Republicans, 20,083 unenrolled and 661 voters registered in various smaller parties.

As in the rest of the state, the unenrolled voters represent the critical swing vote in today’s election because of their ability to vote for candidates in the party of their choice.

While many candidates are running for office unopposed within their party—for them the primary is a moot exercise—today will also see several fierce intra-party battles resolved.

The Democrats

In the Democratic Primary, four gubernatorial candidates have been slugging it out all summer to earn a single place on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Shannon P. O’Brien—state treasurer and a former state legislator—leads current polls. She is followed closely by Warren E. Tolman, a former state legislator, Robert B. Reich, a Brandeis University professor and former secretary of labor and Thomas F. Birmingham’72, president of the state senate. (Steven Grossman is also listed, though he withdrew from the race in July)

There are seven additional Democratic candidates running for two state executive positions.

Christopher F. Gabrieli ’81, Lois G. Pines and John P. Slattery are running for lieutenant governor. Additionally, Michael P. Cahill, Timothy P. Cahill, Stephen J. Murphy and James W. Segel ’67 are running for treasurer.

Additionally, there are three Democrats running for State Senate in the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District: Jarrett T. Barrios ’90, Carlo DeMaria Jr. and Anthony G. Galluccio.

The Republicans

Republican gubernatorial candidate W. Mitt Romney is running unopposed in his party’s primary, but his running mate—former state party head Kerry M. Healey ’82—faces her biggest test of the campaign today when she duels Jim Rappaport, a real estate developer who garnered the party’s nomination at its convention last April.

Daniel A. Grabauskas and Bruce A. Herzfelder ’81 are also running on the Republican ticket for treasurer.

Casting the Ballot