National Voter Registration Day: how to register ahead of a consequential November
(3-minute read)
Tuesday, September 15, 2026, marks National Voter Registration Day, an annual nationwide push to make sure eligible voters are registered well ahead of Election Day. This year, the day carries extra weight in Massachusetts, where voters will decide nine statewide ballot questions, a full slate of state and federal general election races, and in Reading, a Proposition 2 ½ operational override and a Community Preservation Act adoption question, all on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Registering to vote
According to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s election division, Massachusetts residents can register to vote in several ways:
Online through the state’s voter registration portal
By mail, using a paper voter registration form
In person at the local town or city clerk’s office
In person at the Registry of Motor Vehicles when obtaining or renewing a license
To register, a person must be a United States Citizen, a Massachusetts resident, and at least 16 years old, though registrants must turn 18 by the date of the election to vote.
Checking registration status
Residents who are unsure whether they are already registered, or who have moved and need to confirm their address on file, can look up their status through the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s online lookup tool. The same site can confirm polling locations and ballot information as the election gets closer.
The deadline to register
Massachusetts requires voter registration, whether completed online, by mail, or in person, to be submitted by October 24, 2026, 10 days ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Early voting is scheduled to run from October 17 through October 30 for those who prefer to cast a ballot before Election Day itself.
What’s on the ballot this November
Beyond the top-of-ticket races decided in the September primary, Massachusetts voters will find nine statewide questions on their November ballot, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office and election tracking by Ballotpedia:
Question 1: Whether to expand the state’s public records law to cover the governor’s office and the Legislature.
Question 2: Whether to allow employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services to unionize and bargain collectively.
Question 3: Whether to replace separate party primaries with a single primary in which the top two finishers advance to the general election.
Question 4: Whether to allow voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day itself.
Question 5: Whether to change how the state calculates its tax revenue cap.
Question 6: Whether to create a dedicated fund for land conservation and water quality projects.
Question 7: Whether to allow municipalities to allow single-family homes on smaller lots.
Question 8: Whether to repeal the 2016 law legalizing retail sales of recreational marijuana.
Question 9: Whether to repeal the 2024 law that expanded the state’s assault weapons ban and gun regulations.
In Reading, voters will also weigh in locally on a $6.5M Proposition 2 ½ operational override and on adopting the Community Preservation Act, both placed on the November ballot after voters by the Select Board and Town Meeting this year.
With federal, state, and local questions all converging on a single election this fall, election officials and voting rights groups are using National Voter Registration Day to encourage anyone who has moved, turned 18, or simply never gotten around to registering to take a few minutes and do so before the October deadline. A ballot with this much on it, organizers say, is exactly the kind of election where registered voters’ participation matters.
