Share This Article
Nearly one quarter of voters in the March 31 Annual Town Election voted using a mail ballot. Of the 2,411 total ballots cast and counted, 555 (23%) were mail ballots. Twelve additional mail ballots were not counted because they were received after the deadline of 8 p.m. on Election Day. You can check the status of your mail ballot here.
In contrast, for the 2024 town election, 1,685 people voted by mail, 48.9% of the 3,390 total votes cast. During state election years such as 2024, the Secretary of State’s office sends a mail ballot application to all voters. In Sudbury, 3,628 voters requested mail ballots for the town election in 2024.
Mail ballot requests, including those for all elections, expire at the end of each calendar year. Voters had to re-apply to receive a mail ballot for the 2025 town election. In odd-numbered years, with only municipal elections scheduled, the state does not send a mail ballot application via U.S. mail. Instead, Sudbury’s Town Clerk included information about applying for a mail ballot on the back of the Annual Town Census.
As of March 18, only 301 mail ballot applications had been received by the Town Clerk. A concerted effort by the League of Women Voters to inform voters of the need to reapply for a mail ballot by the deadline, March 24, helped increase the total number of applications to 703 by that deadline.
The Town Clerk received 19 absentee ballot requests, with 17 of those ballots returned. No-excuse mail ballots have largely replaced the use of absentee ballots except in specific circumstances.
One request for an accessible ballot was received, and that ballot was returned by the deadline and counted.
Two people cast provisional ballots in the March 31 election when their names were not found on the voting rolls. According to the Town Clerk, both of those provisional ballots were later rejected because there was no record of the individuals having registered to vote in Sudbury. Provisional ballots are frequently used when people think they are registered but are not listed in poll books. Massachusetts does not have same-day voter registration, which would allow qualified residents to register on Election Day and then cast a ballot.
While no more elections are currently scheduled in 2025, a special election may be held if spending articles approved at any town meeting also require a ballot vote. Voters who did not request a mail ballot for all elections on their application for the town election, and voters who have not yet requested mail ballots for 2025, can apply for a mail ballot online, using a downloadable form, or by requesting a paper form from the Town Clerk’s office.
To be eligible to vote at Annual Town Meeting, which begins May 5, residents must be registered to vote by April 25. Check your voter registration status here.
Nancy Brumback is a freelance reporter living in Sudbury.