Check out these insane new voting laws in Massachusetts!

Voting By Mail

In July, a new law was passed to allow all registered voters in Massachusetts to vote by mail in any 2020 election, with no excuse needed.

As required by the new law, a Vote by Mail application will be mailed to every person who was registered to vote by July 1 and who had not already requested an absentee ballot for the State Primary or for all elections this year. A second mailing will be sent out in September to all voters who have not already applied for a Vote by Mail ballot for the November election. The applications are pre-addressed to your local election official and no postage is necessary.

Vote by Mail applications must be delivered to your local election office no later than 4 business days before the election. For a State Primary ballot, your application must reach your local election office no later than August 26. For a State Election ballot, your application must reach your local election office no later than October 28.

If you wish to vote by mail, you are strongly encouraged to return your application as early as possible, to make sure that you will receive your ballot in time to return it and have it be counted.

Vote by Mail applications are available for download and may also be requested by contacting the Elections Division.

You can find more information on voting by mail on our Voting by Mail FAQs page.

(Updated 7/6/20)

Voter Registration

We encourage those who need to register to vote to use our online voter registration system. If you cannot register online, you may still register without leaving your home by sending a mail-in voter registration form to your local election office. If you need to register to vote in person, contact your local election official about their ability.

The voter registration deadline for all elections in 2020 will be 10 days before any election.

(Updated 7/6/20)

Early Voting

To assist with limiting crowding at polling places, there will be additional days of early voting this year.

In-person voting for the September 1 State Primary will take place over 8 days, with 7 days of early voting being held August 22-28. All cities and towns will be required to offer early voting on Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23.

In-person voting for the November 3 State Election will take place over 15 days, with 14 days of early voting being held October 17-30. All cities and towns will be required to offer early voting on Saturday, October 17, Sunday, October 18, Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25.

Early voting schedules and locations will be posted at www.MassEarlyVote.com at least one week before early voting begins.

(Updated 6/29/2020)

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Check out these insane new voting laws in Massachusetts! PT 2 Of2,

(Updated 7/6/20)

Emergency Ballots

If you have been admitted to a healthcare facility within 7 days of an election, or you have been instructed by a medical professional or public health official to self-quarantine in your home within 7 days of an election, you may use the absentee ballot application to designate someone to pick up your emergency absentee ballot, deliver it to you, and return it to your local election official.

There is no deadline to submit an application for an emergency ballot, but your ballot must be returned to your local election office by the close of polls.

(Updated 7/6/20)

Town Elections

A new law has been passed which allows towns to reschedule their annual town elections, which are usually held between February 1 and June 30. Town elections must now be held on or before August 1. You should contact your town clerk for more information about the date of your town election.

No-excuse early voting by mail is allowed for all local elections being held on or before August 1, 2020. You may apply now for your mail-in early ballot.

If your town's election has been moved, ballots for the original election date will still be valid. If you have already submitted an absentee ballot, that ballot will be counted.

(Updated 6/9/20)

Candidate Nomination Papers

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that, due to the difficulty of obtaining signatures on nomination papers during the current pandemic, the following accommodations shall be made for non-party candidates for federal office:

The number of required signatures for ballot access will be cut in half;

An “electronic signature,” which is the voter's hand-written signature, either on paper or using a mouse or stylus on an electronic document, will be accepted on printed nomination papers.

Number of Signatures Required

In accordance with the SJC ruling, the number of certified signatures required for non-party candidates for federal office to be placed on the 2020 State Election ballot shall be:

President and Vice President — 5,000

U.S. Senator — 5,000

U.S. House of Representatives — 1,000

Electronic Signature Gathering

The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that signatures gathered electronically may be acceptable for certification, though the nomination papers must still be submitted to local election officials and the Secretary of the Commonwealth on paper.

Acceptable “electronic signatures” include signatures signed on a scanned nomination paper using a mouse, stylus, or finger. Signatures are also acceptable if they are signed by hand on a nomination paper which has been scanned and returned to the campaign electronically. Typed signatures are not acceptable.

Please note that nomination papers cannot be submitted to local election officials or the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office electronically. Papers must still be printed, back-to-front, and must be exact copies of nomination papers provided by this office.

Additional guidance on “electronic signatures” can be obtained from the Elections Division.

Submission

Because some city and town halls are currently closed to the public, candidates are encouraged to submit nomination papers to their local election offices by mail, if enough time remains before the deadline. If you are mailing nomination papers, we recommend the use of some tracking service, in case they are mis-delivered. If you would like the papers returned to you by mail, include a pre-addressed postage paid envelope for the clerk to use to return them to you.

Remember that postmarks are not sufficient for nomination paper deadlines. The papers must be in the local election office by 5 p.m. on the date of the deadline!

If you need to file your papers in person, you should contact the local election official for information on their availability. They may ask you to call when you arrive, so they can meet you outside, or they may request that you leave your nomination papers in a drop box. If you are leaving nomination papers in a drop box, be sure to include your contact information, so the clerk can get in touch with you when the papers are ready to be picked up.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth's office remains open to the public during regular business hours for the filing of nomination papers.

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Sent to me by a friend who lives there. Ma is as Blue as it gets.