2020 Vote-By-Mail in Massachusetts

Once your Vote-By-Mail application is received, you will automatically receive the Primary and/or General Election ballot(s) you applied for. It is very important to read the instructions included with the Vote-By-Mail ballot carefully, and to follow them exactly. This will ensure that your vote is accepted and counted. This includes clearly and carefully filling out your ballot, signing it in all places where indicated, utilizing the self-addressed, postage-paid envelope provided and submitting it (either by mail or in person) by the deadline. The deadlines to submit your mail-in ballots are as follows:

• Massachusetts State Primary: Your Local Election Official must receive your completed ballot no later than 8 p.m. on September 1, 2020.

• General Election: Your completed ballot must be postmarked no later than November 3, 2020, and received by your Local Election Office no later than November 6, 2020 (11/13/20 if international).

Since the volume of mail-in ballots is expected to be extraordinary this year, it is highly recommended that you submit your ballot as early before the deadlines as possible.

If you’re concerned about missing the above deadlines, consider hand-delivering your completed ballot or voting in-person on the Election Days.

You can track your ballot at www.TrackMyBallotMA.com where you can see the date your completed ballot was received by your Local Election Official, and whether your ballot has been accepted or rejected. If your ballot has been rejected, your Local Election Official will notify you as to why it was rejected. If there is enough time before the election, you will be sent a new Vote-By-Mail ballot, or you can choose to vote in-person during Early Voting or on Election Day instead. If you carefully follow the instructions to complete your ballot, and submit it as early as possible, this will not be an issue. Reasons a ballot could be rejected include: it was not submitted or received on time, it was not signed, or your voter registration could not be found in the system. When in doubt, contact your Local Election Official.

The short answer is, no. Therefore, once you receive your Vote-By-Mail ballot, make sure to keep it safe until you’re ready to complete and submit it. If your ballot is lost or damaged, you should vote in-person either during Early Voting or on Election Day.

You can either vote in-person or by mail; you cannot do both. If you don’t return your Vote-By-Mail ballot, you can vote in-person on Election Day or during Early Voting. If you do return your Vote-By-Mail ballot, but it is not received by your Local Election Official on time, or your ballot is rejected for any reason, you can vote in-person because your mail-in vote will not be counted.

In addition, you cannot vote in more than one town or state, even if you have multiple residences. When you register to vote, your voter registration is logged into the voting registration system and compared to a national voter registration database to ensure that there is only one registration for each legal voter.

When Local Election Officials receive your vote, it is scanned into the voting system, and again, checked to make sure that each voter has cast only one ballot.

We are fortunate to vote in a state that has a robust voting system that ensures that voting is convenient, safe, secure, accurate and timely. Therefore, in Massachusetts, we can expect election results to be made public on, or shortly after Election Day. Bear in mind that not all states will be able to do the same. Remember, however, that presidential election results are not official until Electors meet on January 6, 2021, to cast their official electoral votes. Between Election Day and January 6, 2021, it is therefore very important to get your election news from reliable news sources, and to make every effort to filter out any “noise” that casts doubt on the reliability of our election system. If you have any concerns, contact the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

If you have additional questions or would like further information on what is included in this Q&A, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ website www.sec.state.ma.us contains a wealth of information about elections and voting in general, as well as the specifics of voting in 2020 in light of COVID-19. For your Local Election Official contact information go to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s website and click on Find My Election Office. As of the writing of this Q&A, Local Election Official contact information on the website only includes an email address. If you need to speak to your Local Election Official, contact your Local Clerk.

When you register to vote, election officials verify your eligibility to vote in the system and match your voter registration signature to your signature on record at the RMV. Your voter registration enables you to apply to vote by mail. Once you receive your Vote-By-Mail ballot, take care to secure it until you are ready to complete and submit it, since only one individual Vote-By-Mail ballot will be generated for each individual registered voter. In some instances, you will be required by Federal law to show ID reflecting your name and the address where you’re registered to vote. If you are required to show ID, your Local Election Official will include a notice with your Vote-By-Mail ballot. Make sure to send a copy of your ID on the outside of your ballot envelope, because the ballot envelope cannot be opened until it’s time to count the ballots. This will be clearly noted in the ballot instructions. If you have never voted in Massachusetts, you may have to provide ID with your ballot.

Each vote starts with an accepted paper ballot, whether cast in-person, or by mail. When you vote in-person, your paper ballot is scanned into the election system at the time you cast your vote at your polling place. Vote-By-Mail ballots are scanned into the election system in a highly controlled central tabulation facility in your town. Polling places and central tabulation facilities are under close supervision of trained election officials of multiple parties. Once ballots are scanned into the election system, they are machine tabulated, with paper ballots providing an extra measure of security in the unlikely event of a machine tabulation error.