Election Update: Early Ballots expected in October

Above: The Town Clerk’s Office issued an update on voting this fall. (image from Town website)

It sounds like the Town Clerk’s office has been getting a number of inquiries from anxious and/or aggravated voters.

Some are eager to ensure they can vote by mail for the November 3rd election. An update issued by the Town Clerk’s office issued last Friday explains that voters who haven’t already applied for Vote by Mail will receive a postcard this month. None of us should expect to receive the actual mail-in ballot in the mail until at least mid-October.

A few voters complained that they had issues getting ballots for the recent primary. According to a message from the Clerk’s office, that issue was mainly due to voters not updating mailing addresses. (If you moved back and forth between Southborough and a vacation home or college this year, you may want to double check which address is on file for you for October.)

The update explains what’s involved in getting ballots out to Southborough voters this fall. It also instructs on how to check on your voting by mail status and your address on file:

November Election – Vote by Mail Update

We’ve received MANY calls and emails from residents concerned about when they will receive their Vote by Mail ballot for the November election.

The answer is that we’ll mail the ballots as soon as we receive them from the Secretary of State and our best guess right now is that we will receive them by October 9.

In addition to the ballots, we still need the Secretary of State to send us the 3 different envelopes and instructions that we’re required to use to mail your ballot to you, then we’ll have to apply 5 separate labels to the 3 separate envelopes that we’ll use to mail a ballot to the approximately 4,000 Southborough residents who will want to Vote by Mail. Yes- that means we will have to MANUALLY apply 20,000 labels before we can mail your ballot to you! And that takes time, especially when we’re limited by COVID-19 safety distance restrictions.

Please help us by being patient. We WILL mail your ballot to you as soon as we receive all the supplies.

In mid-September, the Secretary of State will mail a Vote by Mail postcard application to every Southborough voter who has not already requested to Vote by Mail in the November election. Simply check off the box for November, sign, and date it, and place the postcard in the U.S. Mail. Or you can drop it off in the BIG BLUE ballot drop box next to the Town House.

Check the status of your Vote by Mail application and ballot by clicking here: https://www.sec.state.ma.us/wheredoivotema/track/trackmyballot.aspx

Changed Address? If you want us to mail your ballot to a different address than the one you listed on your Vote by Mail application, you must submit a new application:
https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/2020-Vote-by-Mail-Application.pdf

Wrong addresses – A few people told us they did not receive the ballot mailed to them for September State Primary election. In almost every case we researched, the problem was the voter requested the ballot be mailed to a vacation home, then they moved back to Southborough or to Cape Code, never updated the address where the ballot should be mailed, and the address forwarding had expired! Or a college student had the wrong mailing address listed on the application.

The Southborough Post Office has been outstanding to work with!

If you have any questions, feel free to call the Town Clerk’s office at (508) 485-0710 x 3005 or email townclerk@southboroughma.com

The Town Clerk’s page on the upcoming election  also explains that early voting will be available in-person from October 17 to October 30 during the hours of 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. That will take place at the Southborough Senior Center, 9 Cordaville Road, through the rear entrance.

The deadline to register to vote is October 24th:

The Town Clerk’s office will be open on Saturday October 24 between the hours of 2 to 4 pm and 7 to 8 pm.

Verify your voter registration status by clicking here.

Call the Town Clerk’s office at (508) 485-0710 x 3005 is you have questions

Voting on November 3rd will take place at Trottier Middle School from 6:30 am – 8:00 pm.

Updated (9/21/20 10:33 am): I fixed the email address from the Town Clerk’s message as a reader pointed out a typo.