Voting Information

Official voting information is available from your Town (or City) Clerk and from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Most questions can be answered at one or both locations.

The Town Clerk is authorized by state law and local statute to administer elections and all election-related processes and responsibilities for all elections. For North Shore cities and towns, links to each town/city hall and to each town/city clerk are found in the DTCs section of this Website.

Automatic Voter Registration

As of January 1, 2020, if you are a Massachusetts citizen conducting certain transactions through the Registry of Motor Vehicles, MassHealth, or the Commonwealth Health Connector and you do not opt out of registering to vote, you will automatically become registered to vote.
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Voter Registration Status

Once registered, you will remain on the list of voters so long as you vote regularly and complete and return the annual municipal census. If you move to another city or town, you must re-register in your new community. If in doubt, check your Voter Registration at the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Website.

Vote by Mail

Massachusetts voters now have the option to vote early by mail in all elections, with no excuse required. An application to vote by mail may be obtained from your Town Clerk.

Note that mail-in voting has several deadlines:

If you miss any of these deadlines, you will not be successful in voting by mail. We suggest that you plan to vote early and not run up against any of these deadlines:

• Request an application early.
• Return a completed application early.
• Return the completed ballot early.

Absentee Ballots

Excuse-required absentee voting by mail is available in all elections, to those who qualify. For details and to request an absentee ballot, see the Voting by Mail page on the Massachusetts Website.
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Early In-Person Voting

Check with your Town Clerk for dates, times, and locations of early in-person voting.

Voter ID

Any person who is a Massachusetts resident, a United States citizen and will be eighteen years old by the next election is eligible to register to vote. You do not need a driver’s license or any other form of identification to register. However, when you sign the registration form, you must attest, under the pains and penalties of perjury, that you are legally eligible to register and that the information you provide is accurate and truthful. The penalty for fraudulent registration increased recently to a fine of ten thousand dollars or imprisonment for up to five years, or both

Political Party Affiliation

When you register, you may choose to become a member of a political party, select a designation for a political organization which has not achieved party status in the state or choose to become an "unenrolled" voter (commonly referred to as "independent"). Remember that if you register in a party or select a political organization designation, in a primary election you only may receive a ballot for that party. Unenrolled voters may request any ballot in a primary election.