Depositing of Early Voted Ballots - Public Procedure

 

In accordance with the Secretary of State Regulations 47.12 and under the provisions of section 7(k) of Chapter 115 of the Acts of 2020, the Town of Halifax will be opening and depositing early voted ballots received up until Thursday, August 27th on Friday, August 28th at 8:00 AM at the Town Hall, 499 Plymouth Street and continue Monday, August 31st at 8:00 AM.  

 

As the Town Clerk’s office is closed on Fridays we respectfully ask that observers register by emailing [email protected]  in advance of all processing of early voted ballots sessions.

 

In accordance with the Regulations 47.12 and the provisions of section 7(k) of Chapter 115 of the Acts of 2020, no results shall be determined or announced until after the time the polls close on September 1st.  At that time the results from the advance processed ballots will be added to the election day results and posted in a public place.

 

The above is based on legal information from the State.

 

What it means in practice is that members of the public are welcome to watch the Town Clerk and election workers open the sealed envelopes containing ballots received via two methods: 1) the early in-person voting that will have taken place from Saturday, August 22 to Thursday, August 27 and 2) and voting by mail from ballots received. The envelopes will be unsealed and the ballots removed from the envelopes. After the ballots are removed from the envelopes, they will be inserted in the voting machines.

 

While the voting machines will count these ballots, no results based on these ballots will be released during this process. The votes contained in these ballots are combined with the ballots received on election day (mostly by in-person voting) and the totals will be announced on election day, Tuesday, September 1.

 

For more information about this process, please contact the Town Clerk’s office at 781-293-7970.