Fall River will count outstanding mail and early ballots in public Nov. 7, four days after the election

FALL RIVER Fall River will count its outstanding absentee and early voted ballots on Saturday, Nov. 7, four days after the polls close, in a session open to the public in the Atrium at One Government Center starting at 9 a.m. Chief Elections Official Ryan Lyons set the count in a public notice dated Thursday, Oct. 29.

The notice covers two groups of ballots. Absentee and mail ballots postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 3, will be accepted until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, if they arrive through the U.S. Postal Service. Absentee and early voted ballots that voters submitted directly to the Elections Department by the close of polls at 8 p.m. on Election Day "shall be counted during Post Election Tabulation," the notice says.

Lyons wrote that state law requires those outstanding ballots to be counted "in one continuous session," open for public observation. Any ballot counted that Saturday will not be in the election night results. The notice cites Chapter 92 of the Acts of 2022, the state law titled An Act Fostering Voter Opportunities, Trust, Equity and Security, and the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, and says the city gave the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Elections Division notice of the session Oct. 29.

Freetown counts its late mail Nov. 6

Freetown handles the count differently: Town Clerk Cheryl C.A. Estrella told the Secretary in a letter sent Sept. 10 that the town chose "Option 1," under which every eligible ballot the town receives on or before Election Day is counted on Election Day.

Freetown's own post-election count covers only mail ballots sent from within the United States, postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by the Town Clerk after Election Day but no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6. That count begins at 5:05 p.m. the same Friday on the first floor of Freetown Town Hall, 3 N. Main St., Assonet. Estrella wrote that official results will be posted on the town website on or before Wednesday, Nov. 18.

In both communities, ballots mailed from outside the United States and postmarked by Election Day have until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, to arrive, the Fall River Elections Department and the Freetown clerk's office say.

Getting a ballot in on time

In Fall River, a mail ballot can go back in the postage-paid envelope that came with it, in the ballot drop box outside the Third Street entrance of One Government Center, or straight to the Elections Department in Office 636, the department's Oct. 7 notice says. A ballot returned in person or left in the drop box has to be in by 8 p.m. Election Day. Mail ballots cannot be dropped off at a polling place on Election Day, and a voter who applied to vote by mail can still vote in person as long as the mail ballot has not already been turned in, the department says.

Freetown's election page warns that mail delivery "can range from 3 to 11 days" and recommends the white drop box outside Town Hall by 8 p.m. Election Day for anyone still holding a ballot.

Fall River's ballot is two cards, and mail voters must seal both pages in the envelope and sign the affidavit on it, as SC360 reported. The city's deadline to apply for a mail ballot passed at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The Fall River Elections Department takes questions at 508-324-2630 or rlyons@fallriverma.gov. The Freetown Town Clerk's office is at 508-644-2201, ext. 2.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.