Secretary Projects Roughly 800,000 Democratic and 280,000 Republican Ballots
By Sam Drysdale
Massachusetts will see higher turnout in next Tuesday’s primary elections than it did in 2022, Secretary of State William Galvin predicted Thursday while urging voters who have not yet returned their mail-in ballots to avoid putting them in the mail and instead vote in person or use a drop box.
Speaking at a press conference in the State Library, Galvin said 2026 turnout is difficult to project because voting habits have changed significantly since the last midterm primary. More voters now favor voting by mail or early and in person, he said, making comparisons with 2022 less precise.
Still, early numbers point upward.
As of Thursday morning, the state received about 364,000 Democratic ballots through early in-person voting and vote by mail, along with about 73,000 Republican ballots, Galvin’s office said. Both figures are higher than the corresponding totals four years ago.
“I’m obviously aware that in a number of other states, there’s been pronounced increases in the Democratic primary turnout,” Galvin said, attributing some of that trend to the political environment under President Donald Trump’s administration.
In 2022, about 777,000 Democratic ballots and about 275,000 Republican ballots were cast. Galvin estimated that this year’s Democratic turnout could reach roughly 800,000 with Republican turnout around 280,000.
“That’s my guess, and it is a guess,” he said.
The state’s growing number of unenrolled voters also remains a factor. Democratic enrollment has fallen below 25% of Massachusetts voters, Galvin said, while Republican enrollment is between 7% and 8%. Increasingly, he said, Massachusetts voters are choosing to remain unenrolled, allowing them to decide which party’s primary to participate in when an election arrives.
With Tuesday approaching, Galvin issued a particularly pointed warning to voters who have requested mail-in ballots but have not yet returned them. More than 100,000 ballots sent to voters had not been received by the state as of Thursday.
“They have the right to go in and vote in person should they choose to, but we strongly recommend if they were going to vote by mail, do not mail the ballot,” Galvin said. “It’s too late.”
Instead, voters should bring their completed ballots to an official drop box or vote in person. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Galvin also addressed the continuing legal fight over Trump’s efforts to restrict mail voting. He emphasized that the federal executive orders at issue do not affect Tuesday’s elections.
“They were never intended to affect the primary, mostly because the drafter of the so-called executive order has no interest in primaries as much as he has in trying to make sure he can help his party in the election,” Galvin said about Trump.
Galvin said Thursday, “The bottom line is the issues before the United States Supreme Court would only affect the general election.”
Massachusetts is continuing its own legal challenge, with a hearing scheduled for next week. Galvin said the practical difficulties of implementing major changes to mail voting so close to November could make Trump’s directives impossible to carry out this year.
“It would be bad policy at any time, but impractical completely to try to do it at this time,” he said. “It will not be able to happen.”
Galvin went further in describing what he believes is behind the effort, saying, “This whole issue, with regard to Trump, when it comes to vote-by-mail, is a strategy,” he said. “It’s a strategy to prevent people from voting and interfere with people’s right to vote, because he believes that his people, the people that vote for him, will show up in person, and anybody else he doesn’t trust.”
Asked whether Massachusetts voters should make alternative plans for November because of the uncertainty around mail-in voting, Galvin said he was not advising them to do so yet. But he said he had already sought additional authority from the Legislature to expand voting options if necessary.
“I asked them for additional authority to do some things if I had to deal with that situation. They didn’t give it to me,” Galvin said. “But I’m used to that.”
He said the state could consider expanding early, in person voting or polling hours, as well as finding other ways to deliver ballots.
“Maybe I’ll have drones,” Galvin said with a wry smile.