By Bob Katzen

Auditor Suzanne Bump and Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin announced that Massachusetts cities and towns would be reimbursed $1.14 million for the costs of allowing early voting in the 2018 general election. Early voting begins ten business days before an election and ends two days before it. According to Galvin’s office, more than 584,000 voters cast their ballots early in the 2018 election.

“We owe it to the voters of the commonwealth to constantly strive to remove barriers that prevent them from making their voice heard in our democracy,” said Bump. “By providing convenience and flexibility, early voting has led to important progress on this front.”

”Early voting has proved to be enormously popular among voters in the last two state elections,” Galvin said. “As we look to expand early voting to increase voter access and convenience in the future, we need to make sure we are providing local election officials with the resources they need in order to hold successful elections.”