Okay! So you’ve registered to vote in either Massachusetts or your home state, but now what? This is a how-to on voting in the upcoming election on Tuesday, November 8th!
For Massachusetts residents:
Since you luckily are registered to vote in the same state you currently reside in, voting is very easy to do!
The one catch is that to vote on a regular ballot, you must vote in the county you are registered to vote in. This means that if you put your home address down when you registered to vote, you must go to the polling location in the same precinct as your home address. If you registered to vote with your BU address, you can vote in BU’s precinct.
To find out where your polling location is, enter the address you registered to vote in here.
Once you know where to vote, bring a photo ID (just in case they ask for one, since this is your first time voting) to your polling location anytime between 7 am and 8 pm on November 8th. You will be allowed to vote as long as you are in line by 8 pm.
If you are unable to make it to your assigned polling location, you can still vote with an absentee ballot. To download the form to apply for an absentee ballot, click here. Once you have filled out your application, it can be faxed, mailed or emailed to your local election office. It must be received no later than 12 pm on November 7th. When you recieve your actual ballot, fill it out and mail it to the address on the return envelope so it’s received by the deadline.
For out-of-state residents:
Voting can be confusing, especially at a diverse school like BU where most students do not come from the Boston area. If you are registered to vote in a state that isn’t Massachusetts, this is what you need to do to vote.
The only way to vote out-of-state is with an absentee ballot, which you must fill out and mail back to your state. There are many tools online to help you, including a very helpful website that will allow you to quickly download your absentee ballot application no matter what state you’re from! To receive your ballot, along with the list of voting steps specific to your state, click here.
Additional tools:
To ensure you are registered to vote in Massachusetts and to find your polling information, check here.
To ensure you are registered to vote in a different state, check here.
Unfortunately, voter registration is currently closed in Massachusetts. To check if your home state is still allowing voter registration, look here.
For a comprehensive list of every tool you could possibly need to vote in the upcoming election, make sure to check out vote.org.