Mass. General Laws c.54 § 92

Method of voting

This is an unofficial version of a Massachusetts General Law. For more information on this topic, please see law about elections and voting.

Updates

• Amended by St.2020, c.115, § 5, effective July 6, 2020
• Amended by St.2022, c.92, § 19, effective June 22, 2022

Section 92

A voter who has received an official absent voting ballot shall mark it in the presence of no other person, except as provided in section ninety-eight. The voter shall then enclose and seal the ballot in the envelope provided pursuant to clause (c) of the first paragraph of section eighty-seven, and execute the affidavit on such envelope. The voter shall return the ballot, sealed in such envelope, as hereinafter provided.

(a) A voter who receives the ballot by mail, as provided in subsection (a) of section ninety-one B, may return it by mail to the city or town clerk in the envelope provided pursuant to subsection (d) of section 87; via a secured municipal drop box, where provided; or such voter or a family member may deliver it in person to the office of the city or town clerk. A voter to whom a ballot was delivered in person at the office of the clerk as provided in said subsection (a) of said section ninety-one B shall return it without removing the ballot from such office.

(b) A voter to whom an election official delivered the ballot in person at a designated health care facility, as provided in subsection (b) of section ninety-one B, shall return it to such election official, who shall return it in his custody to the office of the city or town clerk.

(c) A voter to whom a ballot was delivered in person as provided in subsection (c) of section ninety-one B shall return it to the person who delivered it, and such person shall immediately return it in his custody to the office of the city or town clerk.

(d) The absent voting ballot of any voter who was eligible to vote at the time the ballot was cast shall not be deemed invalid solely because the voter became ineligible to vote by reason of death after casting the ballot. For purposes of this subsection, the term “cast” shall mean that the voter has: (i) deposited the absent voting ballot in the mail for ballots mailed; (ii) returned the absent voting ballot to the appropriate local election official either by hand or by depositing it in a secured municipal drop box, where available, for the city or town where the voter is registered; or (iii) returned the absent voting ballot electronically pursuant to section 91C.

Last updated:	June 22, 2022