By now, Lynn’s registered voters should have an “Official 2020 Vote by Mail Application” which was sent this week by mail from State Secretary William Galvin.
Lynn City Clerk and Election Chief Janet Rowe said that residents must fill out the application and send send it to her office by Aug. 26.
“If you email it [to Karen Richard] – as long as the signature on the application is visible, we’ll take it,” said Rowe.
Many more voters will be casting their votes by mail, a new option made available this year due to the coronavirus health crisis.
“We really want to get the word out there how safe it is to vote by mail,” said Rowe, who expressed confidence in the process. “I know there’s a lot of people saying, ‘voter fraud,’ and all that, but you have to ask for the ballot. You still have to fill out this application and you have to sign it. And we have people’s signatures from when they registered to vote. That signature has to match the one on the ballot when it’s sent back to us. We check those to make sure.”
Rowe said she and her staff “take every precaution” when they receive a ballot, just as they do in the absentee balloting process. “I like to say that we’re 99.99 percent safe,” said Rowe.
Rowe said the state is picking up the cost of the postage for the Vote by Mail applications. “It’s a savings – and it just makes it a little bit easier,” said Rowe.
Once the ballots arrive, the Lynn Election staff will send them to voters who have mailed in their Vote by Mail applications.
Rowe assured voters that, “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure the polling places are safe. We want people to come to the polls and vote, but if they don’t feel safe, just mail in your ballot and we’ll take care of it.”
Rowe announced that the Ward 1, Precinct 2 polling place at the Pondview senior center has been moved to the Sisson School gymansium.
“All of our polling locations are now in school gyms that are huge,” said Rowe.