Secretary William Galvin. (Sam Doran/SHNS)
After seeing how voting by mail helped lead to a record number of voters casting ballots in the 2020 election, Secretary of State William Galvin said Tuesday he would file legislation this month to make the option a permanent fixture of the Massachusetts voting system.
Galvin said his bill would also expand in-person early voting and implement same-day voter registration in Massachusetts, allowing eligible voters who need to register or update their voting information to do so at the polls on Election Day before casting their ballot.
Currently, voters must be registered at least 20 days before Election Day in order to vote. Galvin's bill would let anyone who missed the deadline to register on Election Day at the polls, but not during the intervening period, and voters would not be permitted to change party affiliation on the day of the primary.