| Early voting, Atrium at One Government Center | Oct. 17 to 30 |
|---|---|
| Public test of the vote tabulators, 9 a.m. | Oct. 20 |
| Last day to register to vote | Oct. 24 |
| Mail ballot application due, 5 p.m. | Oct. 27 |
| Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3: polls open | 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
FALL RIVER Fall River voters will get two ballot cards for the Nov. 3 state election, and the city's Elections Department is reminding people who vote by mail to seal both cards in the return envelope.
Card 1 is printed on both sides. It lists every race on the ballot, from U.S. Senate and governor to county commissioner, along with ballot Questions 1 through 7, according to a department notice posted Oct. 15. Card 2 is printed on one side and holds Questions 8 and 9.
Voters who mark a ballot at home must also sign the affidavit on the ballot envelope. The notice says the law requires an unsigned ballot to be rejected.
Returning a mail ballot
Ballots can go back in the postage-paid envelope that comes with them, 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 began mailing ballots Monday, Oct. 5, according to an Oct. 7 notice. Ballots left in the drop box or brought to the office must arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Still want a mail ballot?
Applications are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. Voters can call the department at 508-324-2630 or apply through the Secretary of the Commonwealth's website.
Early voting in person
Early voting runs Saturday, Oct. 17, through Friday, Oct. 30, in the Atrium at One Government Center, according to the Elections Department's 2026 State Election Calendar. The calendar lists hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and says parking for early voters is reserved outside the Sullivan Drive entrance.
Register by Oct. 24
Saturday, Oct. 24, is the last day to register to vote. The calendar lists special registration hours that day at the Elections Department, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Machine testing is open to the public
The department will test the DS200 vote tabulators and the ballots on Tuesday, Oct. 20, starting at 9 a.m. at Election Central on the ground floor of One Government Center. Anyone can watch, the department said in an Oct. 15 public notice. State election rules require the test.
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, the calendar says.
Label: Reported by us from the city's election notices.
How we verified this
Every fact comes from four Elections Department documents, listed below. The notices are scanned pages; we read their text against the page images. The early voting place, hours and parking, the Oct. 24 registration hours and the poll hours come from the department's 2026 State Election Calendar, and the story says so where it uses them; the October notices do not repeat those details. The calendar also describes a later deadline for ballots mailed with an Election Day postmark, with a date we could not read clearly, so this story gives only the 8 p.m. deadline for the drop box and the office, which every document agrees on. We downloaded all four documents again on Oct. 17; none had changed. We recomputed every weekday by script and checked each claim against the documents. A human editor approved the story. Not heard: no one was contacted.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources
- 2026 State Election: Two-Page Ballot Card Reminder, listed Oct. 15, 2026City of Fall River Elections Department. 2 pages: the two ballot cards, sealing both, the envelope affidavit, return options and the Oct. 27 application deadline. SHA-256 b647d0574eeda292. Retrieved Oct. 17, 2026.
- Absentee and Early Voting Ballot Notice, Oct. 7, 2026City of Fall River Elections Department. 1 page: ballots mailed starting Oct. 5, return options and deadlines. SHA-256 56661cf8917eebf8. Retrieved Oct. 17, 2026.
- Public Notice: Testing of Voting Equipment, Oct. 15, 2026City of Fall River Elections Department. 1 page: the Oct. 20, 9 a.m. public test at Election Central. SHA-256 c2e4eea7ded8db89. Retrieved Oct. 17, 2026.
- 2026 State Election CalendarCity of Fall River Elections Department. 5 pages: early voting place, dates, hours and parking; Oct. 24 registration hours; Election Day poll hours and ballot return deadline. SHA-256 17328193a968c3f1. Retrieved Oct. 17, 2026.
- Elections Department press releases, City of Fall RiverLists the notices above. No newer state election notice as of Oct. 17, 2026, 11:48 a.m.