BOSTON (WHDH) - Secretary of State William Galvin has issued a warning to voters on Election Day — it is too late to mail in vote-by-mail ballots.
“It’s very important at this point that voters do not, do not place thier ballots in thier mail,” he said.
Those who are still in possession of a mail-in ballot can return them at dropboxes in their community.
Vote-by-mail has become so popular that it delayed the results of Boston’s preliminary race in September.
Galvin says the city received twice as many dropped-off ballots as anticipated and that they had to process all those ballots to make sure no one had voted twice.
“When you know that 7,000 ballots were received on Election Day and the difference between second and third is 3,000, you obviously have to be cautious,” he said.
The city is making changes in how it is counting and reporting votes this time around.
Galvin says so far, more than 38,000 voters in Boston have returned their vote-by-mail ballots, but it is hard to know how many more will be dropped off on Election Day.
“They may delay the certainty of some races and they may delay the certainty of every race but we hope it won’t happen,” he said.
Galvin is not predicting a record turnout for Boston’s mayoral election this year.
“I don’t think the intensity is in this race as other races,” he said.
Galvin is calling on the state legislature to pass a bill that would make vote-by-mail permanent in Massachusetts. It was originally passed as an emergency order during the pandemic but that option is set to expire in December.
Voters can find their communities’ dropoff box here or can find where they can vote in-person here.
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