Secretary of State William Galvin is working with local election officials to streamline early voting and voting by mail in anticipation of a record-setting Election Day Nov. 3.
According to Galvin, 1.6 million voters have sought mail-in ballots with around 200,000 ballots already sent out. Galvin estimates that between one-third and half of all ballots cast will be cast in-person on Election Day. The secretary believes the total number of votes from early, mail-in and in-person voting could top the record 3.38 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election, even amid a pandemic.
"No voter should have to compromise their safety to participate in this election. And I don't believe that anybody will," Galvin said a State House press conference Monday.
Galvin has been holding virtual meetings with municipal clerks to encourage them to move voting precincts to venues large enough to accommodate large numbers of voters socially distanced from one another.
"We sent them a follow up reminder memo not to underestimate the amount of space that they will be needing for Nov. 3 to make sure that everyone will have the opportunity to vote safely and be assured that there will not be in any way a crush of people around them," Galvin said.
The state primary election Sept. 1 went relatively smoothly, but was marred by some administrative complications at the local level because of confusion regarding mail-in ballots and drop-off locations.
Galvin now says that the busy primary elections, where there were competitive state-wide and congressional races, helped city and town clerks identify "issues that they had to confront."
"It was painful at the time, but it helped because it exposed a lot of little problems for local clerks," Galvin said.
Galvin said his office is working with the city of Boston and other municipalities to expand early voting and ballot drop-off locations.
