Absentee Voting

Any person registered to vote in the City of Cambridge, or a family member of any person registered to vote in the City of Cambridge who will be absent from the City on Election Day or who, by reason of physical disability or religious beliefs, will be unable to go to his/her polling place, may obtain an Absentee Ballot Application from the Election Commission.

Any voter, or a family member of a voter who is unable to pick up an application form may send a letter to

The Cambridge Election Commission
362 Green Street
Cambridge, MA 02139

to request an absentee ballot. The letter must contain the following information:

the voter's name and voting address;
the address to which the ballot is to be mailed;
the reason for the request;
the voter's signature or, if unable to sign, the voter's mark witnessed by another person.

Ballots will be mailed to the address provided on the application form or letter. A voter may execute the ballot in any community and mail it back from any community, but the ballot must be received by the Election Commission Office no later than 8:00 P.M. on Election Day in order to be accepted. The ballot may be mailed or hand-delivered by the voter or by a family member of the voter. "Family member" includes a spouse or person residing in the same household, in- laws, father, mother, brother, or sister of the whole or half- blood, son, daughter, adopting parent or adopted child, stepparent or stepchild, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, grandparent or grandchild.

A voter who will away from the City on Election Day and who will not have an address to which the ballot can be mailed may submit the application form or letter with the information described above and request to vote the absentee ballot over the counter at the Election Commission Office. The voter must come to the office prior to departure from the city and vote the ballot.

Any voter who wishes to vote over the counter should telephone the Election Commission at 349-4361 for a time to come in and cast the ballot.

No applications for absentee ballots will be accepted after 12:00 noon, November 6, 1995, unless the voter has been admitted to a health care facility since noon on Thursday, November 2nd. In that case, an application may be made until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

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Last updated on July 18, 1995