del.icio.usThe Massachusetts Primary will be on Tuesday, September 19th. To be allowed to vote, you have to register at least 20 days before the election: that means that if you're not already registered to vote, you must register by this Wednesday, August 30th.
This weekend at brunch, I asked my friends if they were registered to vote - and gave out three voter registration forms. Are you registered? What about your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors? Now's he time to ask. And to carry some forms with you. Why not pledge to register at least one more voter in the next two days?
For all you ever wanted to know about registering to vote in Massachusetts, read on...
Eligibility: A person is eligible to register to vote in Massachusetts if they:
- Are a citizen of the United States
- Reside in Massachusetts
- Will be 18 years old, or older, on election day
- Are not currently serving a sentence for a felony
#1 is pretty simple - or is it? Let's assume you know if you're a citizen. You can register to vote before you turn 18 as long as you will be 18 on election day - in this case, September 19th. Anyone whose 18th birthday falls between August 31st and September 19th can vote on the 19th, but still needs to register by the August 30th deadline.
Residence:
- College students from other states may vote here if they live in a dorm or apartment here. Understandably, many college students still keep using their parents' address as their "permanent home address" because they move once or twice or more each year while in school. And many college students choose to vote in their parents' state because it's the one they grew up in and are familiar with. But they live here now, and they may vote here - even if they spend the summer away.
- Homeless people may vote - you can register without a street address if you don't have one. The right to vote is not limited to people who have housing.
- When you move, you may still vote at your old address until you have registered somewhere else, for up to six months
[M.G.L. 51-1].
How to Register
A person registers to vote by getting a voter registration form, filling it out completely, and returning it to their city or town's clerk or elections department by the deadline. In Massachusetts, each city and town is responsible for maintaining a voter list of all of the eligible voters residing there, not the state (or the county, as in many other states). The city/town clerk or their representative will determine if your registration is valid, and the city is responsible for maintaining the voter database.
- Voter registration forms
You can get voter registration forms at a variety of locations, including colleges and universities, public libraries, registry of motor vehicles offices, and the state elections division. The most convenient place to get them, in my opinion, is city or town hall. Every city and town hall in the state has voter registration forms at their elections department or, if they have no separate elections department, at the clerk's office. In some of the larger cities, the elections department may be located in a separate building from other city hall offices (just as, for example, the parking & traffic department, or the department of public works, might be in a separate building) - if you don't know where it is, call ahead.
It doesn't matter which city you get the forms from. There is one voter registration form for the whole state. Even when I lived in Somerville and Waltham, I mostly got voter registration forms at Cambridge City Hall, because it's conveniently located at Central Square where I would often change busses or get on or off the T.
- Filling out the form
Although anyone may get the form and give it to the voter, and anyone may take the completed form back, only the voter may write on the form. If you're helping someone else register, you may answer their questions or give them advice, but make sure not to write on the form yourself! If the voter is disabled and physically unable to fill out or sign the form, then and only then can you write on it for them - and make sure to correctly fill out section 11. I'll go through the voter registration form section by section in detail, below.
- Changing registration, and duplicate registration
To change their voter registration, be it for a new address or a new party designation, a voter simply fills out a new form. The registrar will match the voter with their former registration information, and replace it with the information from the new form. If the voter has moved within the state, their new city will inform their former city of the move, so that they can be removed from the voter list at the old address. The form to change registration is the same as the form for registering a new voter.. However, if you have moved within the same city or town, and were already registered at your former address, you may simply notify them in writing of your new address, without filling out a voter registration form (personally, I'd fill out the form, it's simpler and less error-prone).
If you are not sure whether you are already registered, or whether your voter registration information is correct, it does not hurt to re-register. If you fill out a new form that happens to have the same information as your registration already on record, the worst that should happen is nothing. On the other hand, you may correct an error you didn't know about.
- Returning the filled out form
Although everyone in Massachusetts registers using the same form, each form must filled out may only be returned to the city or town that voter resides in. A voter may go to their city hall in person - in fact, they could fill out their form right there to register in person. They may mail it in - each form has spaces on the back to fill in the city/town name and ZIP code, a return address, and for a stamp, so you can fold it and drop it in the mail without an envelope. Or they may let someone else hand carry it for them.
The deadline for registering to vote in all state elections and most local elections is 20 days before election day, or if that date falls on a Sunday or holiday, the day before. If you return a form in person, you must return it by that date: in this case, this Wednesday. Your local clerk's or elections division office is required to stay open until 8pm on the day of the deadline, though if your town has fewer than 1500 voters, they may choose to only open from 2-4pm and again from 7-8pm
[M.G.L. 51-28]. If you are sending forms in by postal mail, they must be postmarked by the deadline.Tip: If you're registering other people to vote, and you give them forms to fill out and mail in, chances are most of them will neglect or forget to do it, or misplace the form. Offer to mail it in for them, or better yet, to hand deliver to city hall - if you're registering multiple people and already have someone else's form from the same city, you may be planning to go to city hall to turn it in already anyway.
- Absentee ballots
To vote absentee, a voter must first register, or already be registered. Then they fill out an absentee ballot application, return it to the clerk or elections department, and receive an absentee ballot to vote with and return to the clerk or elections department. Doing this process by mail can take a while, and can cause a voter to miss deadlines. If you can't vote in person on election day and would like to vote absentee, call your city or town's elections department and ask which days they are open for "in-person absentee voting". You can walk in, fill out your registration form if you need to, fill out an absentee ballot application, get the ballot, and vote, all in one visit in person.
There also exist proxy absentee ballot applications so that, for example, you may apply for an absentee ballot for your family member who is out of the country. You can have their ballot sent to their current location. If you need to get an absentee ballot for someone other than yourself, and have any questions, call your city's elections department / clerk's office to ask.
The ID requirement: The Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires that new voters show identification at least once. Anyone who registered to vote for the first time on or after January 1st, 2003, must show ID either when they register, or the first time they vote. Valid identification "must include your name and the address at which you are registered to vote, for example: a current and valid driver’s license, photo identification, current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check, or other government document showing your name and address." If you register in person, you can show ID. If you register by mail, you can mail ID in with your form, but they're not required to send it back to you. Or, you can just bring ID to the polls the first time you vote.
Inactive voters: Any voter who fails to return their city or town census may be marked "inactive" in the voter list. Sometimes this happens by mistake, so you may not know you've been marked inactive - particularly if you moved and they sent the census to your old address. "Inactive" voters may still vote! However, an inactive voter must show ID, just like a new voter. And, just like a new voter, an inactive voter can go to city hall with ID to "reactivate".
Bottom line: Bring ID with you to the polls, even though you may not be required to, just in case. It can't hurt, and it may help.
I've registered a lot of voters, and asked registrars and elections commissioners a lot of annoying questions in the past few years. I've seen what mistakes people often make when filling out their forms. So let's go through the Massachusetts voter registration form, section by section, in detail...
Tip: If you are registering other people, be familiar with all of the rules and common mistakes, and look at how they fill out the form so you can make sure they avoid mistakes and fill it out validly.
1. Check all that apply
There are two sets of checkboxes here, "Are you a Citizen of the United States of America?" and "Will you be 18 years of age or older on or before Election Day?" - obviously, you must check "Yes" for both, or not register. This is the most common mistake people make.. It is surprisingly easy to miss the checkboxes because unlike everything else on the form, they don't start flush with the left border. It's also surprisingly easy to check "Yes" in the citizen box, think you've completed section 1, and miss the second box (18 years of age). A voter registration form without both boxes checked "Yes" is not valid and will be returned, so when you're registering other people, always make sure they see and fill out both checkboxes!
2. Full name: / 3. Former name
Your full name is the name you will be registered to vote as, which means it's also the name you will use to sign petitions, so remember whether you put down "Dave" or "David" :) If you haven't changed your name, leave #3 blank.
4. Address where you live now
This is where you actually reside, regardless of whether you receive mail there, or whether you even can receive mail there. College students, for example, must put down their dorm's address, not the campus mail center address - many college students do not even know their dorm's address, and may need to ask their administration. Homeless voters fill out a graphic street diagram instead of section 4. The diagram is located above the dotted line, before section 1, on the right side of the form. It shows an intersection of unlabelled streets, with compass markings. Fill in street names and landmarks to indicate a location of "residence".
5. Address where you receive all your mail
Okay, here's where the mailing address goes. This can be anywhere that accepts mail for you, regardless of residence. However, if you receive mail at the address in section 4, you may leave section 5 blank.
6. Date of birth
Month, day, year... you know the drill.
7. Identification #
The voter's full Massachusetts drivers license number or the last four digits of their social security number or "none". This section is another one for common mistakes. You do not need to fill in a full social security number, just the last four digits, although a full SSN won't hurt because the registrar can just use the last four digits. A more serious mistake is that some voters assume they cannot register to vote if they don't have a Massachusetts drivers license or a social security number. That is not true: Just fill in "none". But do not use another state's drivers license number.
Voters who enter no identification information in section 7 will have to show ID at the polls, or when they register in person. But all new voters have to do that now anyway. Practically speaking, complete this section if you remember your license number or SSN, but if you don't remember, it's not a big deal.
8. Telephone
This is optional. If city hall has questions about your form, they can call you using this number. Candidates for office may also call you at this number - but for candidates you don't want to talk to, saying "I don't support you" on the phone may be preferable to having people come to your door. Personally, I encourage doing anything that makes it easier for candidates to contact you without depending on the press as a middleman.
9. Party enrollment or designation
There are exactly two parties with ballot status in Massachusetts currently: Democratic, and Republican. You may check the box next to either party to register as a member of that party, or you may check "No Party (unenrolled)" to be registered with neither party. In addition, you may also check the "Political Designation" box and write in anything you'd like to. Usually, people use this space to name smaller parties that have no ballot status, such as Green or Libertarian, but doing so will not change your official status as a registered Democrat, Republican, or unenrolled.
If you are registered with a party, you may vote in that party's primaries, and no other. If you are registered with no party, you may vote in the primary of your choice. A lot of people register as unenrolled for that reason, even though their sympathies lie mostly with one of the parties. However, this may be a mistake: To participate in many party activities and party governance, you need to register with that party. And particularly in Massachusetts, if you tend to support Democratic candidates, I highly encourage you to register as a Democrat:
- Registering as a Democrat makes you eligible to join a Democratic town or ward committee.
- Registering as a Democrat makes you eligible to run for Democratic State Committee
- Registering as a Democrat makes you eligible to vote in a Democratic caucus
- Registering as a Democrat makes you eligible to be a delegate to the Democratic state convention
- You can still vote for any candidate in the general election. Registering as a Democrat does not prevent you from voting for another party's candidates.
- When is the last time you remember a contested primary for any other party where you live? Registering unenrolled really doesn't come with any practical advantage, if the only primaries you ever vote in are Democratic primaries!
So, if you are a Democrat, if you usually support Democrats, register as a Democrat so you can have more of a voice in shaping the party.
10. Address at which you were last registered to vote
This is another one that causes some anxiety for people, but it needn't: it's entirely optional. Section 10 is meant as an aid for registrars to help them figure out which existing voter is the same person as the one who filled out this form. If you don't remember your former address, it's okay to just give a city or town name, or a street and city name. If you don't remember if you were registered to vote at a particular address, either fill it in or leave it blank. If they can't find your old address, that's okay, it won't affect your ability to register.
11-14 date and signature
The voter should read the oath in section 12, then sign and date the form in sections 14 and 13, respectively. This is the second most common error: voters often forget either to sign the form, or to enter today's date. Always check these spaces after someone has given you a completed form.
If you are helping a voter who for reasons of disability is not able to complete the form themselves, you must include your own name and contact information in space 11
.To recap, if you're registering other voters,
- Have spare voter registration forms with you.
- Point out that there are two required checkboxes in section 1.
- Emphasize that section 5 is where they actually live, even if no mail goes there.
- Remind them to sign and date the form when they're nearly done.
- Skim the form for common errors when they're done.
- Offer to mail or hand-carry the form in for them, and do so by the deadline.
All right? Now go forth and register a voter!
