Absentee Ballot Info for January 19 Special Election

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Dear Davis Sq. Community,

I needed to request an absentee ballot for the January 19 special Senate election, and I felt I would share the information here.

The absentee ballot form can be downloaded here. From the State of Massachusetts Elections Division:

Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, the deadline to apply for absentee ballots for the January 19, 2010 special election for US Senate is 5:00 p.m., Friday, January 15.

From my interpretation, the completed absentee ballot application must therefore be received by 5:00pm on Friday January 15. Traditionally, applications must be received by noon the day prior to the election, but Monday the 18th of January is Martin Luther King Day.

Some recent polls* have shown the race as a virtual tie, so whoever you planned on voting for, it is possible that every vote may count. If you were going to be busy working, out of town, or just plain lazy, using an absentee ballot may be a useful solution.
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* PPP released a poll on Saturday at 8:00pm showing Brown leading Coakley by 1 percentage point amongst likely voters in a two-way race, omitting libertarian candidate form the questionare.

Comments

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that when you apply for an absentee ballot, they need to mail it to you or you need to schedule a time to vote at City Hall. And the deadline for returning the completed ballot is the day of the election.

If you're relying on the mail to submit your absentee ballot application, receive your absentee ballot, and/or return the completed ballot you'll probably want to get going on that ASAP.

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

I voted absentee for the recent primary. It was wicked easy. Just show up at City Hall anytime during business hours. You can fill out the application right there, they hand you a ballot and you fill that out right there as well and turn it in. The whole thing took five minutes.

Yes, I know that not everyone can make it there during business hours, but they are open late on Thursdays. Hours are Mon-Wed 8:30am-4:30pm, Thurs 8:30am-7:30pm, Fri 8:30am-12:30pm.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i downloaded and filled out an absentee ballot application last thursday and took it over to city hall to drop it off. (i'm going to be out of town for the election.) the clerk who took it let me vote right then and turn in my ballot to her. so if you can deliver your absentee ballot application to city hall by hand, instead of mailing it, you might be able to vote right away instead of having to wait for the absentee ballot to come in the mail.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Apparently that poll hit the Young Republicans, or so I'm hearing. Still, it's troubling. Brown is fairly moderate, but on the national level, it's vote the GOP's way or die, especially lately.