Tuesday's primary broke records, with more than 1.5 million people casting ballots. By contrast, fewer than 1 million people voted in the 2018 state primaries.

What accounts for the difference? A hotly contested Senate race drove turnout for sure. But a major driver was the expansion of vote-by-mail and early voting, which alerted more people to the fact that an election was even happening and made it easier for them to participate. As the next legislative session nears, it will be important to make these reforms not just a pandemic-induced one-off but a part of how we do elections in Massachusetts.

You may have already voted, but we're sure that even if you have, you still know people who haven't yet.

TOMORROW -- Tuesday, September 1st -- is the last day to cast your ballot for the primary.

Polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm. Find your polling location at wheredoivotema.com. (Note: Some polling locations have changed, so make sure to double check.)

If you still have your mail-in ballot, the best thing to do would be to drop your ballot off at the secure dropbox in your city/town. You need to do so by 8 pm tomorrow (the earlier, the better). You can find dropbox locations here. You cannot drop your mail-in ballot at a polling location tomorrow instead, but you can still vote in-person if you have not submitted your mail-in ballot.

Check if your mail-in ballot has been processed here. If it has not been, you can still vote in-person.

If you have any issues casting a ballot, or see clear issues like long lines or closed polling places, call the Election Protection Hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

The Massachusetts primary is just over two weeks away. We've made some endorsements already this spring and summer, and we're ready to announce a few more.

Do you have questions about voting safely this fall? Check out SafeElectionsMA.org.

The Massachusetts state primary is just one month away: Tuesday, September 1st. And the general election just three months and two days.

The basics for getting prepared for the next month:

• Make sure that you are registered to vote at your current address.
• Register to vote or update your registration.
• Find your polling location and districts.
• Send in your application to vote early by mail! (Or download one here.)

But beyond just being registered, we want you to be informed. Read questionnaires from candidates running for State Legislature across the state here.

There are a lot of questionnaires, so we decided to break up our endorsements into multiple batches as in years past.

Our Elections Committee reviewed questionnaires, spoke with allies, and made recommendations for our second round of endorsements, and then our members voted.

And we're proud to endorse the following candidates, who will be progressive champions in the MA House and Senate.

The Massachusetts state primary is two months from today: Tuesday, September 1st.

The basics for getting prepared for the next couple months:

• Make sure that you are registered to vote at your current address.
• Register to vote or update your registration.
• Find your polling location and districts.

But beyond just being registered, we want you to be informed. Read questionnaires from candidates running for State Legislature across the state here.

There are a lot of questionnaires, and we will break up our endorsements into multiple batches as in years past.

Our Elections Committee reviewed questionnaires, spoke with allies, and made recommendations for a first batch, and then our members voted.

And we're proud to endorse the following candidates, who will be progressive champions in the MA House.

Earlier today, the Massachusetts Senate voted 40 to 0 for a bill to protect our fall elections during the pandemic. 

Like the bill passed by the House, the bill contained a number of important provisions:

• Sending an application to vote early by mail to every registered voter for both the September 1 primary election and the November 3 general election
• Ensuring all applications and ballots sent by mail include prepaid return postage
• Ensuring that ballots postmarked by Election Day will be counted (but for the general election only)
• Allowing voters to apply to vote by mail through an online portal and enabling any voter who wants to vote absentee to do so this year
• Expanding early voting for the primary and the general

The Senate embraced some opportunities to strengthen the bill during debate today but, unfortunately, rejected others. Here’s a rundown of what happened. 

On June 4, the MA House advanced a bill to expand opportunities to vote by mail and vote early in light of COVID-19 (Read about the good and the bad of the bill here.)

Now, it's the Senate's time to vote, and that means another opportunity to improve the bill--to make it better for voting access and better for public health.

That's why we're supporting the following amendments:

When voters go to the polls this September, they should ask themselves several core questions. Which candidates are best equipped for the hard work of undoing the damage of the Trump administration and charting a progressive path forward? Which candidates will be active champions, the allies who join a fight before it becomes popular? Which candidates respond to the crises we face with the urgency required?

These are the questions our members weighed as they voted on whom Progressive Mass should endorse for US Senate, and the answer was clear: Ed Markey, with more than 96% of the vote.

Common Cause Massachusetts, MassVOTE, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Progressive Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Voter Table today praised emergency legislation allowing municipalities to delay their spring elections until June, and expanding absentee and early voting by mail, among other reforms.

The bill, S. 2608, was passed yesterday and is expected to be signed by Governor Charles Baker imminently.

“Yesterday’s bill is a strong first step. However, there is no guarantee that the coronavirus crisis will have receded by September 1, when Massachusetts state primaries are scheduled, or even for the November elections,” the groups said. “The Election Modernization Coalition urges the Legislature to recognize that this crisis is of indeterminate length, and that we must also act quickly to ensure that the fall’s elections take place as scheduled, maximize participation, and maintain public health. To that end, the Legislature must protect the ability of all eligible voters to cast ballots from home in all elections, and ensure that in-person voting is as safe and participatory as possible.”

The full statement is below.