Independent voter? Moving? You can (and should) still vote in the Sep 1 primary

On September 1st the state will be holding primaries for the Democratic and Republican parties; the winners will then run against each other in the November final election. Even if you’re a registered voter, you might think you can’t vote in the primary: if you’re not registered with either party, or if you’re moving September 1st. But you can vote, and just as importantly you should vote.

In this article I’ll cover:

• Why voting in this primary is an opportunity you shouldn’t waste; your vote can literally impact the whole planet. And I’m using literally in the literal sense.
• How you can vote even if you’re not a member of either party (unaffiliated or independent) and want to stay that way.
• How to vote in advance, if you’re moving, or if voting September 1st just isn’t going to work for you.

Your vote will choose who has one of the most powerful positions on the planet

The argument here is pretty simple:

The US is the most powerful country in the world, for now. And our 100 senators have a huge influence on what the US does, domestically and across the world.

This November we’re choosing one of our US senators, and most likely it will be the Democratic candidate. Which means the winner of the Democratic primary—Ed Markey or Seth Moulton—will likely become senator.

In short, the September 1st election will let you choose who will fill one of the most powerful positions in the world. You should take advantage of this opportunity!

Specifically, you should vote for Ed Markey. Seth Moulton has made clear he’ll throw trans people under a truck, so fuck him. Also he owns more than $1 million in defense startups, the area his committee oversees, which seems pretty corrupt.

If you’re a US citizen but not registered to vote

You can register online here.

You can vote even if you’re an independent

When you register to vote you typically register as a Democrat, a Republican, or unaffiliated/independent. If you’re registered with a particular party, you vote in the applicable primary.

If you’re unaffiliated/independent, in Massachusetts you can choose which primary you participate in (other states can have different rules). This is a choice specific to this particular primary: you are still not enrolled in a party, you are still independent/unaffiliated, you just get to vote in this particular primary.

So, you can show up on September 1st at your personal polling location (you should get a letter telling you where it is, otherwise check here), and when you talk to the poll worker you tell them which primary you want to vote in. You will continue to be registered as an independent.

You can vote before September 1st

Can’t vote on September 1st, despite the State Senate claiming it’s the “optimal date for voter participation”? You can vote in advance two different ways:

1. Vote by mail or dropbox: You can sign up here, you’ll get the ballot in your mailbox in a few weeks, and then you can fill out the ballot at home. You can then mail the ballot back, but if it arrives too late or gets lost your vote is wasted, so I recommend putting the ballot in the Election Commission’s special dropboxes, which are scattered across the city. Note that on September 1st only the drop box at 689 Mass Ave will be open.
2. Early voting in person: At the Valente Library, the Main Library, or the Cambridge Water Department by Fresh Pond, August 22-28. More details and hours here.

You can vote even if you’re moving

What happens if you move on or before September 1st? The summary—pick one of these two options, assuming you’re moving inside Massachusetts:

• To vote in the old location, vote by mail, and do not update your voter registration or driver’s license until after September 1st.
• To vote in the new location, update your voter registration by August 22nd.

Importantly, if you update your driving license or MA state ID, this will update your voter registration too.

If you’re moving in Massachusetts, your vote is tied to wherever your voter registration will be on election day, assuming it’s updated before the registration deadline for the primary, August 22nd. So if you haven’t yet updated your voter registration location and it’s only been a short while (up to 6 months), you can vote at your old location even if you’ve moved. The easiest way to do that is voting by mail in advance.

So for example if August 1st you move from Cambridge to Somerville, you can still vote in Cambridge so long as you haven’t updated your driver’s license or voter registration to Somerville. If you updated your driver’s license or voter registration directly in the interim, before the August 22nd voter registration deadline, you will vote in Somerville. But if you register after the 22nd, you won’t be able to vote, as explained next.

Important: If you vote by mail or early in Cambridge and then register in another city or town before election day, your ballot will not be counted, even if you registered in the new city or town after the deadline to register. Since there is automatic registration when you update your driver’s license, that means that if you update your license during the 10 days between the deadline to register and the election, there is chance they may not be able to vote anywhere. So you should wait until after the election to update your driver’s license/state ID.

I’m not sure what happens if you move inside Cambridge between areas with different primaries, and update your registration after Aug 22nd but before September 1st. I would suggest just avoiding this scenario, and only updating updating license or voter registration before by Aug 22nd or after September 1st.

You can check online where you’re registered.

Go vote! And vote for local positions, too

It’s quick, easy, you can do it from home if you want, and you’ll influence who becomes a US senator.

Plus, you can vote in more local position’s primaries, which also impact you, from cost of housing to ICE to how policing is done. I’ll be posting more about at least some of these races in the next few weeks.