voting

Boston City Council is set to weigh legislation that, if approved, would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections for mayor, City Council and city-specific ballot questions.

The City of Boston’s Election Department has announced its preparations ahead of the state primary taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.

Members of the Election Modernization Coalition gathered Monday to call on the state Legislature to include Election Day registration in voting legislation currently moving through the Senate and House of Representatives.

An attentive and involved electorate is what makes a democracy function.

Boston will have more options for voters to avoid standing in line come Election Day. The city’s Board of Election Commissioners Tuesday approved 20 drop box sites and 19 early voting sites for this year’s September 14 preliminary and November 2 general elections.

Why is there so much concern about the potential for lower voter turnout in communities of color, particularly among Black and Latino men? A good portion of the answer lies in the results of the 2016 Presidential Election, when, for the first time in twenty years, the nation saw a drop in the turnout rate for Black voters.

The new legislation will automatically add thousands of eligible residents to the voting register when they visit the Registry of Motor Vehicles, or sign up for MassHealth or the Health Connector program, making Massachusetts the 14th state to adopt such a measure.