Elections in Massachusetts are secure, verifiable, and transparent. With recent changes to our election laws, you may have questions about the safeguards in place to ensure that every vote is counted legally and accurately.
Verifiable Paper Trail
In Massachusetts, every voter casts a paper ballot. Ballots are counted either by an electronic tabulator or by election workers who tally the votes by hand.
No matter how your ballot was counted, election workers record all votes on a paper tally sheet in each polling place after polls close. All ballot counting and tallying takes place in public, with anyone welcome to observe the process.
Each local election office uses those tally sheets to compile unofficial results. Election results become official after they are checked thoroughly, certified by the local election official, reported to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, and certified again by the Governor and the Governor’s Council.
Candidates always have the right to petition for a hand recount of ballots to verify that the official count was accurate.
Ballot Tabulators
All ballot tabulators in Massachusetts are certified for use by the federal Election Assistance Commission and the Secretary of Commonwealth.
Before each election, local election officials must hold public logic & accuracy testing of all tabulators that will be used in the election. Each tabulator is tested to make sure it is counting ballots accurately. The testing date, time, and location is publicly posted, and members of the public are welcome to observe. Local party committees are also invited to observe testing of the voting equipment.
Only tabulators that count paper ballots are certified for use in Massachusetts. No voting tabulators in Massachusetts are connected to the internet.
Voting by Mail
Your Vote by Mail ballot will be checked in as quickly as possible after it reaches your local election office. Your local election official will open the outer mailing envelope and check your inner ballot envelope for your signature. The signature on the ballot envelope will be compared to the signature on file with your local election office.
If your ballot envelope is signed and accepted, your local election official will mark your name off the voter list so that you can’t vote again. The voter list used at your polling place will show that you have already voted.
If your ballot is not accepted, you will be notified that your ballot needed to be rejected and you will still be able to vote in person. If time allows, you will be sent a replacement ballot to use to vote by mail.
All mail-in ballots are checked against the voter list before they are counted. This prevents any voter from voting more than once. A mail-in ballot that arrives after someone has voted in person will be rejected when the ballot is checked in.
Ballot Counting
When you vote in person at your polling place, you place your own ballot directly into the locked ballot box, where it remains until after polls close. Ballots inserted into tabulators are counted as you insert them, while ballots inserted into other ballot boxes are counted in the polling place after polls close.
When you vote early in person or vote by mail, you place your ballot into a ballot envelope, which is kept sealed and secured until it is ready to be counted. Ballots are never unsealed until a public tabulation session has begun.
All ballots are counted in public, either at a central tabulation facility or at your polling place on Election Day. Before any early or absentee ballot is counted, the name and address on the envelope is read aloud and the voter’s name is marked off on the voter list.
Observers are welcome to attend tabulation sessions, which must be publicly posted by your local election office. Any ballots not tabulated at a central tabulation facility are sent to the appropriate polling place to be inserted into the ballot box on Election Day.
Observers are also welcome in polling places to watch the voting process and the counting of ballots at the end of the night. Observers must not interfere with the voting process and must observe from a designated location outside of the voting area.
Election Results
For the November 8, 2022 State Election, unofficial election results reported on Election Night will include all ballots counted through November 8. Those results will include:
- All ballots cast during the early voting period;
- All mail-in ballots returned by November 7;
- All ballots cast in person on Election Day.
Ballots returned by mail or drop box on Election Day will be sent to be processed at the local election office, so that signatures on the ballot envelopes can be examined and voter lists can be consulted.
Mail-in ballots that arrive by November 12, 2022 will be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
After voting lists from polling places have been returned to the local election office, the election officials will check any ballots that arrived on or after Election Day against those lists to determine if the voter who returned the ballot has already voted in person. Ballots from voters who have already voted will be rejected.
Ballots that are accepted on or after Election Day will be counted during a public counting session to be held after 5 p.m. on November 12. Vote tallies will be amended to reflect those additional ballots before the results become official.