Absentee Voting
Voters who are unable to vote on Election Day because of physical disability, religious beliefs or absence from the town may vote by absentee ballot. If you will be absent from West Boylston for an extended period of time, you may submit a single application for all elections occurring with the year that the application is accepted.
Applications for Absentee Ballots may be obtained from the Town Clerk or the Office of the Secretary of State. Applications may be submitted in person or by mail. The voter or a family member may submit an application. The voter or family member must sign all applications under the pains and penalties of perjury before a ballot will be provided.
In a primary elections, a voter who is not registered in a political party must specify the ballot of the party of choice in the application. You will not become registered in a party because of your participation in a state primary.
Deadlines
Applications for absentee ballots must be received by the Town Clerk before noon on the day before an election. A voter who is admitted to a health care facility after noon of the fifth day prior to an election may apply for a ballot up until the close of the polls and may request to have the ballot delivered. Absentee ballots are generally available three weeks before an election.
Permanently Disabled Voter
A voter who is permanently disabled need not submit a request for an Absentee Ballot every election. If such a voter submits a note from a registered physician indicating that he is disabled permanently, the Town Clerk will automatically send an application for an absentee ballot each year for all elections during the year.
What if I need assistance at the polling place?
If you need assistance because of vision impairment, disability, inability to read or to read English, you may seek help from either a person of your choice or from election officials.
You may also ask the election officials to use the AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal, which is an accessible ballot marking device, to mark your ballot. As part of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), there will be at least one AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal at each polling location. The AutoMARK allows a voter to mark their ballot privately and independently. After inserting the ballot into the AutoMARK, the voter can review the ballot and make selections by using the touch screen and/or the keypad while listening to the ballot over a set of headphones. After making all of the choices on the ballot, the AutoMARK will mark the ballot in accordance with the voter’s choices by filling in the corresponding ovals or connecting the arrows on the ballot. The ballot will then be returned to the voter for deposit into the ballot box.
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