Sudbury Voters Have To Apply For Mail-In Ballot

SUDBURY, MA — If you're waiting for your spring town election ballot application to arrive in the mail, you're going to miss the election. Sudbury residents will be able to vote by mail in the March 29 election, but voters have to request a ballot first.

Here's more from a League of Women Voters of Sudbury press release:

Applications for 2021 mail-in ballots are not being sent to every Sudbury voter for the town election, unlike this past fall’s primary and general elections, when the Secretary of State sent the applications to all voters. Voters must download the application from the town website or ask the Town Clerk to send an application, the League of Women Voters of Sudbury pointed out.

Sudbury voters who wish to vote by mail in the town election on March 29 must submit a 2021 Vote by Mail Application to the Town Clerk as soon as possible. That application is available on the town website, www.sudbury.ma.us. Completed applications may be scanned and emailed to votebymail@sudbury.ma.us; mailed to Sudbury Town Clerk, 322 Concord Road, Sudbury, MA 01776; or left in the Town Clerk’s black lock box in the vestibule at the rear of Town Hall. Applications for a mail ballot must be received no later than 5 p.m. on March 23.

Last fall, voters may have requested that ballots be mailed to them for all elections without an additional application, but that request expired at the end of 2020 and is no longer valid. Voters must send a new application to receive a ballot.

According to the Secretary’s website: Applications for absentee and vote by mail ballots "are available for download, but any written request is acceptable if it has your signature on it. For absentee ballot applications, a member of your family may also make the request on your behalf."

The state online portal to request an application is not available for local elections. The state’s Track My Ballot function is also not available. Once the Town Clerk receives the application, she will mail a ballot to the voter. The ballot may be returned by mail or deposited in the outdoor ballot drop box located at the rear of Town Hall, 322 Concord Road. The drop box is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ballots must be received by the close of polls at 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.