As voting season begins, pre-primary voting options come into play

The final pitch is beginning to sound a little more urgent. 

With the Sept. 1 primary just 11 days away, Massachusetts candidates are fanning out across the state, trying to turn each handshake and photo into a vote.

Congressman Seth Moulton is pressing his case against U.S. Sen. Edward Markey before Democrats cast their primary ballots, while Gov. Maura Healey was looking to connect with voters outside the Greater Boston area this week. Congressional and down-ballot challengers are trying to build enough name recognition for some September surprises. 

Voting has already begun and is about to turn up a notch. 

Early in-person voting begins Saturday (the same day the primary election registration deadline arrives) and tens of thousands of ballots have been cast by mail. Whether by ballot box or mailbox, once a vote is cast, it is cast — and campaigns are running out of time, and voters, for those mailers, videos and doorstep conversations to make an impact.

For voters with reservations about mailing a ballot, Secretary of State William Galvin said, early voting is another option. 

Unlike a mailed ballot, they don't have to worry about whether it will arrive at the local election office by the Sept. 1 deadline, Galvin said. 

"Although we've had pretty good support for the mail effort, the fact is it is less certain that the mailed-in ballot might be received on time," he told the News Service. "The ballots have to be in the possession of local election officials by 8 o'clock on Tuesday [Sept. 1], even if they're postmarked earlier."

He added that early in-person voters should not assume their city or town's polling schedule, and urged them to check the exact locations and hours on voteinma.com before heading out. Size and circumstances of each community affect where and when early voting is available; some cities will offer both Saturday and Sunday voting, while others won't. 

The early voting system became a target this week of some of the people running elections locally, who aren't necessarily convinced voters need all the options the Legislature has given them. 

Early in-person voting was introduced in 2016, before Massachusetts added broad no-excuse mail voting during the pandemic and then made both methods permanent. By the 2024 primary, just 28,908 of voters cast ballots early in person compared to 520,056 who voted by mail. 

Massachusetts Town Clerks Association President Danielle Sicard has called early voting "a mini election every day," pointing out that clerks have to staff voting sites that sometimes don't attract many voters and perform the associated ballot work while simultaneously preparing for Election Day and processing mail ballots. 

Galvin isn't buying the knock on early in-person voting. 

"Their complaining is unjustified. We compensate them. If the don't really want to do the job, they probably should think about something else," he said. The state's current budget includes $6.8 million for early-voting reimbursement. 

Galvin is also behind Question 4 on the November ballot which would go one step further to expand voter access, allowing Election Day registration beginning in 2028. Galvin said this week he is optimistic about its chances, saying most people are surprised to learn Massachusetts does not already have it.

The latest UMass/WCVB poll found 69% of voters definitely or probably support the measure, with no organized opposition campaign currently apparent. 

If the nine ballot questions were running a race, most would be enjoying a comfortable lead. The public records question is the runaway favorite (likely to the chagrin of legislative leaders who oppose it.) 

Eighty-four percent of voters said they would definitely or probably support making the Legislature and governor's office subject to the state's public records laws, while only 7% opposed or probably opposed it.  The Legislature appears intent on putting its own version of this proposal into the lawbooks this year. It appears this is going to get very messy.

The residential zoning question to boost housing production and a proposal changing the state tax revenue limit to make refunds more likely each drew 59% support, while 67% backed a state conservation fund using a sales tax earmark. 

The marijuana legalization repeal question is in less comfortable territory for its supporters: 55% said they oppose or probably oppose repealing recreational marijuana legalization, compared with 33% who support it. 

It seems the all-party primary question is the most unsettled. Fifty-one percent said they would probably or definitely support replacing the traditional party primaries with an all-party primary system. 

The poll has a 4.4% margin of error and the numbers capture just a snapshot in time, with more than two months left for people to change or make up their minds before November's general election.

The biggest Democratic primary in Massachusetts is still being waged, even if the latest polling suggests it has become increasingly difficult for Moulton to close the gap. 

The UMass/WCVB poll of 445 Democratic primary voters found Markey leading Moulton 60% to 32%, with 7% undecided. Markey's job approval was 82%. 

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UMass political science professor Jesse Rhodes attributed Markey's position in part to his long-established progressive identity in a state where Democratic primary voters tend to be particularly liberal. 

Moulton, meanwhile, is continuing to campaign on a different theory of what Massachusetts Democrats should want from their senator. 

At an Arlington veterans roundtable Wednesday, Moulton and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill discussed veterans' mental health, housing and access to care. Moulton also spoke personally about struggling with the VA after his Marine Corps service, arguing that if navigating the system was difficult for him, it can be even more difficult for other veterans. 

The same poll found either Democrat leading Republican John Deaton in a hypothetical November matchup, with Markey ahead 51%-30%, and Moulton 49%-25% 

Healey has no primary opponent but her campaign schedule is jam-packed. 

She spent much of the week traveling through the Berkshires and Hampden County then over to the Cape. Some events were plainly campaign stops. Others conveniently unfolded in close proximity to Healey's official business.

Just on Monday: a housing ribbon-cutting in Springfield came with elected Democratic allies including U.S. Congressman Richard Neal and Mayor Domenic Sarno; a North Adams meet-and-green put Healey in campaign mode; then she threw her governor's hat on for a tour of a new elementary school; before returning to campaign mode in Pittsfield an hour later. 

After spending the first half of the week in western Massachusetts, Healey was on the other end of the state by Thursday, serving as the honorary grand marshal of the Carnival parade in Provincetown before heading to Bourne for a farm tour. 

Healey won western Massachusetts and the Cape in 2022, though her hold on Barnstable County was slightly less secure than the Berkshires. 

While high energy prices and climate change top many voters' lists of priorities, Cape voters in particular have a keen interest in one of the topics that Healey's opponent is seeking to make a central campaign issue — offshore wind. 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue appears interested in making the renewable energy source a dividing line with Healey. In a series of social media videos, Minogue has criticized the state's offshore wind push as too expensive, unreliable and disruptive, while arguing Massachusetts should bring in more natural gas.

His campaign has not released a detailed energy plan, instead emphasizing reliable natural gas and (to varying degrees per post) describing renewables as something that can complement the state's energy supply. 

Healey's position is more complicated than Minogue's framing that she is only pro-wind and anti-gas. She continues to support offshore wind as a major part of Massachusetts's clean energy strategy, she says, while describing her approach as "all of the above" and backing some additional natural gas supplies. 

That leaves the eventual general election debate less about whether Massachusetts will use wind or gas than about the balance between the two, the cost of energy, and how quickly the state pursues its climate goals. 

In the Eighth Congressional District, 71-year-old Congressman Stephen Lynch is defending his seat against 39-year-old Patrick Roath, who has emphasized generational change. 

Lynch's answer is that age isn't the relevant measure. He has pointed to his history as a union leader, state lawmaker and longtime member of Congress, while his campaign has highlighted Roath's work advising private equity firms at Ropes & Gray. 

Roath, meanwhile, has his own political experience, including work with Common Cause Massachusetts and former Gov. Deval Patrick's campaigns. 

The contest has therefore settled into a familiar primary argument this season: whether voters should prioritize an established record (older incumbents) or candidates promising a new generation of leadership (younger challengers). 

In the Governor's Council's Third District, the argument is narrower but no less personal.

Councilor Mara Dolan is facing Margie Palladino, a retired trial attorney and anti-domestic abuse advocate who entered the race after Dolan voted to confirm Mary Ferriter to the Probate and Family Court. 

Palladino says that vote was the catalyst for her campaign. She said Ferriter's nomination betrayed survivors, citing Ferrtier's previous job directing a court-ordered family conflict resolution program that advocates say forced survivors back into a room with their alleged abusers. Dolan says Ferriter is "superb" and stands by her vote for the nominee.

One vote in April has become the central issue in a September primary.

Which is perhaps the clearest sign that summer is almost over. Time to get to the polls.

ODDS & ENDS: Republican Rep. Todd Smola has emerged as an early contender in the race for House minority leader as Republican representatives in January are set to elect a new floor chief for the first time in 25 years ... The Supreme Judicial Court sided with Boston, ending three years of litigation over White Stadium and rejecting a challenge from opponents of the city's renovation project in partnership with the Boston Legacy women's pro soccer team ... A state commission is recommending an overhaul of youth sports with a serious dose of oversight and regulation.

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller sits down with Republican candidate for governor Brian Shortsleeve to discuss his tax-cut plan, fixing the MBTA, and what makes him the best candidate against Gov. Maura Healey.

@ ISSUE: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard's guest is U.S. Sen. Ed Markey.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. Ed Harding and Sharman Sacchetti host a program featuring pre-produced packages with each of the six Democrats running in the Sixth Congressional District.

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