People lined up during lunch last month to vote early.

Just over 800,000 Massachusetts voters had cast their ballots in the state’s first-ever early voting period as of Thursday afternoon, officials said.

“It was our first time with it and we didn’t know how people would react,” said Brian McNiff, spokesman for the secretary of the commonwealth, William F. Galvin. “It’s looking like it was pretty popular.”

The voting period started Oct. 24 and will end Friday, McNiff said. The early votes are being sealed and will be counted with other ballots Nov. 8 — Election Day — in the voters’ precincts.

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The Commonwealth distributed $234,150 to assist cities and towns with costs, Galvin’s office said last week.

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Anyone registered to vote in Massachusetts is eligible to vote early. Municipalities across the state were required under a 2014 law to have at least one polling station open when early voting began.

To see when and where your town or city has early voting, go to massearlyvote.com.

Dylan McGuinness can be reached at dylan.mcguinness@globe.com . Follow him on Twitter at @DylMcGuinness