The scene outside Lower Mills branch of BPL, a polling station in Dorchester, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Reporter photo
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
Boston voters are heading to the polls today— Tuesday (Nov. 3) — for the state election, with early voting and mail-in ballot returns in the city lagging behind the statewide average, according to figures released Monday by Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, 14.7 percent of Boston’s registered voters had cast ballots, compared to 22.2 percent statewide.
According to the Boston Election Department, 62,652 city residents had already voted as of Monday, including 15,343 who cast ballots during the early in-person voting period and 47,309 whose mail-in or absentee ballots had been returned.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will remain open until 8 p.m. across Boston’s 275 voting precincts. City officials said more than 2,000 poll workers have been recruited and trained to administer the election.
This year’s ballot is unusually lengthy, featuring nine statewide ballot questions spread across three double-sided ballot cards, in addition to races for federal, statewide and legislative offices.
City election officials are urging voters to allow extra time to complete their ballots and to take special care when feeding the three cards into voting machines. Each card must be inserted separately, with voters waiting for the machine to display “System Ready” before inserting the next one. After inserting the final card, voters should wait for the same message before leaving.
All polling places are wheelchair accessible and equipped with voting assistance terminals. Multilingual poll workers and interpreters will also be available, with additional language assistance offered by telephone.
Residents who still have mail-in ballots can return them to official city ballot drop boxes or directly to the Election Department at City Hall, Room 241, before 8 p.m. Tuesday. Mail-in ballots cannot be returned at Election Day polling locations.
Ballots sent through the mail must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, to be counted.
The city expects to release its first election results between 8 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, reflecting early in-person and mail ballots processed in advance at City Hall. Combined Election Day and early voting results are expected to begin appearing around 10 p.m., with additional precinct totals posted throughout the evening.
Voters can confirm their polling locations and registration information at boston.gov/elections. Translations of the nine ballot questions are available in 16 languages at boston.gov/ballotquestions.
Residents can also call 311 for Election Day assistance.
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
