Saturday marked the final day for Massachusetts residents to register to vote in time to participate in the 2020 presidential election.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s Office said the deadline had been extended for 10 days – through 11:59 p.m. Saturday – due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prospective voters could register online, in person, or mail their registration form by Saturday. Final registration statistics are expected to be released in the middle of next week, the secretary’s office said.
The early, in-person voting period is set to continue through Friday, Oct. 30. Heading into the final weekend of early, in-person voting, the secretary’s office said voter turnout in Massachusetts had already reached 42.6% of total voter turnout in the November 2016 presidential election.
The state reported Friday that 965,786 ballots had already been returned by mail and 472,944 ballots had been cast in person.
Tufts University Political Science Professor Jeffrey Berry told Boston 25 News that early turnout by Massachusetts voters is intended to send a message.
“We’re going out and voting because we feel like it’s our civic obligation,” Berry said.
“The second thing that’s going on is that this is mostly a Democrat state – Republicans are only one out of every 10 voters – so, this is really a reflection of Democrats wanting to say something about President Trump.”
RELATED: How to vote by mail and track your ballot in Massachusetts
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
