The timing of this year’s Sept. 1 state primary — one day short of a week before the Labor Day holiday— is a recipe for a record-low turnout.
The kids are still out of school. Many businesses will still be on a skeleton crew as the dog days of summer slump into football season. Thousands of college kids will be moving into Allston-Brighton. At least two will wedge their rental truck under Arthur Fiedler’s footbridge or some other Storrow Drive overpass.
We’ll state the obvious: It’s a straight-up stupid time to hold an election, unless the object is to keep the ballot-counting machines cool and the precinct warden well-rested. That’s the power of incumbency and one-party rule for you. No primary election should ever be held before Labor Day.
At least it’s 2026 and not 1996. Back in the olden days, when Bill Clinton was prowling Pennsylvania Avenue and Tom Menino was in his first term at City Hall, voters (other than the few who pulled absentee ballots) in Boston’s neighborhoods had just one 13-hour window to pick their preferred candidates on Election Day. No paper ballots and black Sharpie pens back then. No sir!
A vintage 1950s era voting machine with curtain.
Voters would be shuffled into a contraption the size of a cozy stand-up shower— complete with it’s own privacy curtain— and turn a series of switches corresponding with candidate names to pick your poison. When the deed was done, you’d yank on a lever to seal the deal and release yourself back into the wild, or in my specific case, the stacks of the Lower Mills library.
These days, voters can still choose the leaders of the “free world” from behind a curtain and even inside an actual shower, if they so choose. Only now it can be done from the convenience of their own bathroom, thanks to mail-in ballots.
With apologies, we think the last decade has brought an even better innovation: Early voting.
This year, the early vote options start on Sat. Aug. 22 and run through Friday, Aug. 28. Any registered Boston voter can vote at any of the city’s 17 early-voting locations. You aren’t restricted to your assigned precinct during early voting — although why you’d want to break out the passport to trek out to West Roxbury for any reason is beyond me.
The more practical local options include:
- Mildred Avenue Community Center in Mattapan and the Richard J. Murphy School in Dorchester— Saturday, Aug. 22 and Sunday, Aug. 23, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Perkins Community Center, 155 Talbot Ave., Dorchester on Tuesday, Aug. 25, from noon to 8 p.m.
- Florian Hall, 55 Hallet St., Dorchester — Thursday, Aug. 27, from noon to 8 p.m.
If none of the neighborhood spots works for you, anyone can cast their ballot at City Hall starting Monday, Aug. 24 through Friday, Aug. 28. Hours vary by day, but go to boston.gov/departments/elections/early-voting-boston for a full list.
Here’s another important date: Saturday, Aug. 22 at 11:59 p.m. That’s the voter-registration deadline for the Sept. 1 primary. Residents registering in person have until 5 p.m. that day; mail registrations must be postmarked by Aug. 22, and online registrations can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. Those planning to vote by mail should act quickly, too. Applications for a mail ballot must reach the local election office by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Of course, you can still kick it old school and vote at your assigned precinct on Tuesday, Sept. 1, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Shower at home first, but please do get out and vote. — Bill Forry
