Reading Primary Election Day Preview: Where To Vote, Candidates

READING, MA —Early in-person voting is complete and Election Day is upon us in Reading for this year's state primary.

Voting on Tuesday will wrap up the first election in Massachusetts to feature the state's brand-new, pandemic-tested voting system. The state legislature passed the VOTES Act in June, making mail-in voting a permanent feature of elections in Massachusetts. The law also expanded early voting to all state primaries and general elections going forward.

That means hundreds of thousands of votes have already been cast before primary day this week.

In the primary election, voters will only see candidates for their party's ballot. While there are no contested state legislature or governor's council primaries this year in Reading, both Democratic and Republican voters will have a chance to weigh in on a number of contested statewide races.

On the Democratic side, that includes a now two-way race for the nomination to be Attorney General. Once a three-person primary, that contest is now down to former Boston city councilor Andrea Campbell and labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan.

Quintin Palfrey will also appear on the ballot, though he recently announced his decision to drop out of the race.

There are also contested Democratic races for Auditor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State. Democratic voters will still have two names on the ballot in the governor's race, though State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz dropped out of the race earlier this year, leaving current Attorney General Maura Healey running unopposed.

On the Republican ballot, there are contested races for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Geoff Diehl is facing Chris Doughty in the governor's race while Leah Allen faces Kate Campanale in the Lieutenant Governor's race.

Patch has put together a 2022 Massachusetts primary voting guide to get you primed and ready to vote. Here's everything you need to know:

Where To Vote

Polls will be open on primary election day, Sept. 6, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Voting will take place at the Reading Memorial High School Field House. See information on Election Day parking and traffic flow here.

Who's On The Ballot?

DEMOCRATS
Attorney General

• Andrea Campbell
• Shannon Liss-Riordan
• Quentin Palfrey (dropped out, but still on ballot)

Auditor

• Christopher Dempsey
• Diana DiZoglio

Governor

• Sonia Chang-Diaz (dropped out, but still on ballot)
• Maura Healey

Lieutenant Governor

• Kim Driscoll
• Tami Gouveia
• Eric Lesser

Secretary of State

• William Galvin
• Tanisha Sullivan

REPUBLICANS
Governor

• Geoff Diehl
• Chris Doughty

Lieutenant Governor

• Leah Allen
• Kate Campanale

Voting by mail

Massachusetts briefly joined a handful of other U.S. states in allowing voting by mail during the pandemic. Then the Legislature let the practice expire last year. Then they brought it back in June after passing a big, new voting rights bill.

If you're a registered voter, you should've already received a vote-by-mail application from your local clerk. Unfortunately, the deadline to request a mail-in ballot has passed, but voters will get another mail-in shot before the November election.

The state has changed vote by mail materials slightly since the pandemic, but the process is largely the same: once you get your ballot, you fill it out at home with a pen and then return it in a special security envelope to be counted. Since primary ballots must be received by the close of polls on Tuesday, the best way to return a mail-in ballot at this point is either by putting in your local ballot drop box or hand-delivering it to your city or town clerk. You CANNOT drop it off at a polling place on Tuesday.