Leo Woods

A sign for early voting outside Boston City Hall.

Less than a week remains until Nov. 5, when millions of voters across the United States will cast their ballots in federal, state and local races. For many Suffolk University students voting for the first time, it was important to have a plan to vote regardless of where they may be on election day.

Ruby Walsh, a junior political science major, will be working at a polling station in Boston on election day. As a first-time voter, she said it was important for her to cast her ballot in person to see the process up close. 

“I wanted to experience what it’s like in person to guarantee my vote,” Walsh said.

Walsh voted early at the Institute of Contemporary Art. She said it was a smooth and organized process with helpful poll workers. The experience helped Walsh feel connected to the political system she has learned about in her classes.

“I am so excited to finally officially participate in the democracy that women worked so hard to be involved in,” Walsh said.

Early voting in Massachusetts opened Oct. 19 and continues until Nov. 1 for people to vote at select polling locations across the state. More than 380,000 votes have been cast in person during the Commonwealth’s early voting period as of Oct. 29, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.

Students voting outside Boston on election day could choose to vote by mail or via absentee ballot, if they were unable to vote in person. Some states require an excuse to request an absentee ballot, although Massachusetts does not. For states with vote-by-mail programs, all registered voters are automatically sent a ballot ahead of election day. 

Fatima Saadat, a senior political science major from Menifee, California, voted in her first election via absentee ballot because she cannot make the cross-country trip home. 

“Registration and voting has been an easy process for me because California makes it so accessible,” Saadat said. 

In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that permanently required all registered voters in California to be sent a vote-by-mail ballot after the practice was implemented in 2020 as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The voting process is not as simple for everyone however. Oklahoma voters must provide proof of identity to request a mail-in ballot and return it to their county election board with a notarized affidavit, which sophomore Alex Harper said was initially “daunting.”

Using the instructions mailed with her absentee ballot and guidance from Let’s Fix This, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization in Oklahoma, Harper voted for the first time in a general election.

“Even though the process for getting the ballot was a bit more complicated, it was very important to me to be casting my first vote for change back home,” Harper said.

Distrust and misinformation about mail-in ballots surged during and after the 2020 election as former President Donald Trump decried the practice as fraudulent without evidence. The use of mail-in ballots has decreased as pandemic restrictions allowed voters to return to the typical process and legislation restricted the practice.

Harper said it was a common sentiment where she is from that mail-in ballots were untrustworthy, so she wanted to make sure her vote qualified because of what she feels are the high stakes involved.

“This election feels like it might be the most important election of my lifetime,” said Harper.

Voters in Boston can find their polling location through the Massachusetts secretary of state’s website. To check your registration and polling location, visit the website for your state’s chief elections officer.