Galvin: No mail-in vote grace period
Thinking of voting by mail? Do it before Tuesday, or your vote might not be counted — as 1,000 votes were in September’s Boston mayoral election, Secretary of State William Galvin said.
Galvin is urging voters who haven’t mailed back their local election ballots to send them before this Tuesday. Since the state Legislature hasn’t acted on his proposal to allow ballots postmarked by Election Day an extra three days to arrive in the mail, any ballots that reach City Hall after polls close on Nov. 2 won’t be counted, Galvin said.
“Election officials never want to reject any eligible voter’s ballot, but we need to follow what the law says,” he said. “I’m disappointed that local election officials won’t be allowed to count ballots that were legally voted on by Election Day, just because they arrived after a day or two later due to slow mail delivery. The voter is the one who gets penalized, even though the mail is slow.”
The U.S. Postal Service typically recommends mailing a ballot at least one week before Election Day to ensure timely arrival. With recent slowdowns in mail delivery times, Galvin is concerned that voters who mail their ballots back after next Tuesday might not see their votes counted.
“If you’re going to be mailing your ballot, do it within the next few days,” he said. “If you haven’t mailed your ballot back by Tuesday, I strongly encourage you to use a city ballot drop box instead of the postal service.”
Last year, a ballot would be counted, even if it was received three days late, as long as it was postmarked on Election Day. This year, there is no three-day grace period.
In September, 1,000 ballots for acting mayor and other offices were received too late to be counted, Galvin said.
“I don’t want to see that happen again,” he said. “Put it in the mail now.”
Voters actually have several options for returning their mail-in ballots. Ballots can be hand-delivered to a ballot drop box provided by the city or town or to the voter’s local election office, which also can provide the location of the drop box for the future.
Ballots also can be dropped off at early voting locations during early voting hours. In Boston and other cities offering in-person early voting this year, early voting begins this Saturday.
Voters who still haven’t returned their ballot by Election Day also will have the option of voting in person at their polling place if they choose not to use their mailin ballot.
Voters can find their local election office and nearby drop boxes at www.sec.state.ma.us/ele.