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Your guide to voting in the 2025 Boston preliminary election
It's 2025, which makes it an election year in Boston.
We can hear you already asking, "Didn't we just vote in an election?" We sure did. But Boston votes on what's referred to an off-year election for municipal positions.
In the city's upcoming preliminary election on Sept. 9, there are three candidates trying to unseat Mayor Michelle Wu.
One of them you've heard lots about: Josh Kraft, a philanthropist and son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has the deep pockets and name recognition for a serious challenge, even if early polling shows him far behind the incumbent Wu. There's also community activist Domingos DaRosa and former School Committee member Robert Cappucci competing for the corner office.
Then there's a slew of people running for the baker's dozen Boston City Council seats, which includes a rare vacant position in District 7.
What's a preliminary election?
Politics in the U.S. are so blue- and red-coded, it can be hard to envision nonpartisan ways of holding elections. But Boston, like lots of cities, doesn't hold party primaries before the November election. Instead, it's all about the numbers: If more than two people are vying for one position, then there's a preliminary election in September. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November.
That's the case this year, with four people running for mayor: The top two vote-getters will proceed to the general.
Ten candidates are running for the four at-large city councilor positions, so eight will advance to the general. In the wide-open District 7 race, where seven people are vying for the seat vacated by Tania Fernandes Anderson, who resigned in July after a federal corruption conviction, two people will move on to the general.
WBUR will continue to cover the races in the coming weeks, diving deeper into topics that the public care about, like housing and the cost of living, as well as the topics the candidates are talking about, like bike lanes, White Stadium and who's filing what financial statement.
But first, here's a quick breakdown of what you need to know about casting your ballot in Boston's preliminary election.
🗓️ Key dates
First things first, here are some important dates to keep in mind this election season, if you want to mark your calendar or set up some reminders on your phone.
Preliminary election
- Aug. 30: Last day to register to vote in the preliminary election
- Aug. 30-31, Sept. 2-5: Early voting in Boston's preliminary election
- Sept. 9, 7 a.m. - 8 p.m.: Preliminary election
General election
- Oct. 25: Last day to register to vote in the general election
- Oct. 25-31: Early voting in Boston's general election
- Nov. 4, 7 a.m. - 8 p.m.: General election
✅ How to vote
📋 Eligibility
In order to cast your ballot you have to be a few things:
- A U.S. citizen
- A resident of Boston
- At least 18 years old before the day of the election
- Registered to vote
✏️ Register
In Massachusetts, you can't just show up at your polling place and get a ballot. That's called same-day voter registration, and while it's the law in more than 20 states, efforts to bring the practice here have been unsuccessful.
So if you want to vote, you have to register ahead of time with the state. There are a few ways to do that:
Automatic registration: You may already be registered if you opted in when signing up for health care through the state, applied for or renewed a driver's license, state ID, or learner's permit with the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Check your registration status: Check your voter status before trying to register to save yourself a little time. You can do that online here.
Register online: The Massachusetts secretary of state's website gives you the option to register online. Click on this link to register or update your details.
Mail-in forms: If you're more comfortable with filling out a form, you can download one here in multiple languages, fill it out and mail it in.
⌚ Vote early
"Election Day" is an increasingly antiquated term. It's been years since everyone was locked into showing up at a specific place during the 13 hour-window to fill in a bubble, draw a line or pull a lever.
Massachusetts allows for early voting, which means you can vote in person before Election Day. For Boston's preliminary election, early voting days are Aug. 30-31, and Sept. 2-5. Why not Sept. 1? That's Labor Day.
Use this online map provided by the city to find an early voting location. You're not required to go to your neighborhood's polling location like on Election Day: Boston voters can vote at any early voting location in the city.
📬 Vote by mail
If you plan to vote by mail, you're technically voting early, but it's slightly different than "early voting" described above.
Mail-in voting brings the ballot to your living room. That's makes things a lot easier if you're someone with mobility issues, out of town on the days the polling locations are open, or avoiding the temptation of the local school PTA's bake sale outside the precinct doors.
In Massachusetts, you don't need a reason to request a mail-in or absentee ballot. That's a change from the pre-pandemic years, when you had to state a reason.
What you do need is a little initiative a few weeks before Election Day. You have to request a mail-in ballot no later than five business days before the election. That's Tuesday, Sept. 2 if you want to vote in the Sept. 9 preliminary election. That's cutting things pretty close, so you may want to set a reminder to apply earlier and avoid any postal service-related delays.
Online: You can apply to vote by mail at the secretary of state's website.
On paper: The state will send every registered voter a vote-by-mail application ahead of each election. You can also download or pick up an application to vote by mail. Fill out the form and then you can:
- Deliver it in person at the Election Department at City Hall Room 241
- Put it in the election drop box at the main entrance of City Hall (that's on the third floor, which sounds weird but let's face it, City Hall is a pretty weird building) or at any of the secure dropboxes across the city.
- Mail it. But if you do decide to get the post office involved, remember that your application has to be in the town clerk's hands by 5 p.m. on Sept. 2. Just having the envelope post marked that day isn't enough. The mailing address is:
Boston Election Department
One City Hall Square Room 241
Boston MA 02201
Once your application is processed, the state will mail you a ballot. Then you fill it out and return it via one of several options:
- Mail: Remember that it has to be at the Election Department for the election on Sept. 9.
- Drop box: It's at the mail entrance (third floor) of City Hall. Feel free to track it using that same link as above.
- In person: This means you hand it to someone in the Election Department at City Hall. DO NOT bring your vote-by-mail ballot to your local precinct. They aren't able to accept the ballot that way. You can instead vote in person using a traditional ballot.
Track your vote: If you, like the author of this piece, like to re-open the mailbox flap three times to make sure your letter isn't stuck, you'll likely want to know when the city received your ballot and whether it was accepted or rejected. You can track its status here.
If your mail-in ballot is rejected, all is not lost: You can still vote in person on Election Day.
🗳️ Vote on Election Day
Finally, there's good old fashion Election Day, in-person voting, where you go to your designated polling location in your precinct, get your ballot, fill it out, turn it in, hopefully get a sticker, and then, if you want to and they're selling, buy some baked goods from the PTA. Brownies taste best when baked for democracy.
You can find your polling location here.
The preliminary election is Sept. 9. Polls are open 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
👥 Who's running
Now that you've registered and decided how you want to vote, who do you want to vote for? In Boston, you get to whittle down the choices during the Sept. 9 preliminary election, and make your final choice during the Nov. 4. general.
Mayoral candidates
Contested City Council races
Boston elects four at-large city councilors, who represent the entire city, along with nine district councilors, who represent a particular slice of town. The districts are kinda neighborhood based, but their borders change after every U.S census to account for changes in population. The goal is for each district councilor to represent roughly the same number of Bostonians.
The biggest races for council this year are in the at-large race, where there are 10 people jostling for the four seats, and in District 7, where 11 people a battling to replace incumbent Tania Fernandes Anderson, who resigned after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
Here are all the contested city council races in 2025.
At-large candidates
*Note: Eight candidates will advance to the general election; and four will be ultimately elected.
- Frank K. Baker
- Rachel Nicole Miselman
- Alexandra E. Valdez
- Will Onuoha
- Erin J. Murphy (Incumbent)
- Henry A. Santana (Incumbent)
- Yves Mary Jean
- Ruthzee Louijeune (Incumbent)
- Marvin Dee Mathelier
- Julia M. Mejia (Incumbent)
District 1 (East Boston, Charlestown, the North End and parts of Downtown)
- Andretti R. Mcduffie-Stanziani
- Ricardo M. Rodriguez
- Gabriela Coletta Zapata (Incumbent)
District 2 (South Boston, the Seaport, most of the South End, parts of Downtown)
- Charles Jeffrey Delaney
- Edward M. Flynn (Incumbent)
- Brian Matthew Foley
District 4 (Parts of Dorchester and Mattapan)
- Brian J. Worrell (Incumbent)
- Helen Y. Cameron
- Juwan Khiry Skeens
District 5 (Hyde Park and parts of Mattapan and Roslindale)
- Winston Pierre
- Enrique Pepen (Incumbent)
- Sharon L Hinton
District 7 (Most of Roxbury, parts of Mission Hill)
- Said Abdirahman Abdikarim
- Miniard Culpepper
- Samuel Hurtado
- Tchad Akilah Cort
- Said Coach Ahmed
- Natalie Juba-Sutherland
- Wawa Bell
- Shawn Dwayne Nelson
- Roy A. Owens Sr.
- Maverick Afonso
- Jerome King
🗺️ Outside of Boston
Boston isn't the only Massachusetts city deciding on its top executive. Here are the communities holding mayoral elections this year, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association:
- Agawam
- Attleboro
- Beverly
- Brockton
- Chicopee
- Easthampton
- Everett
- Fall River
- Fitchburg
- Framingham
- Gardner
- Gloucester
- Haverhill
- Holyoke
- Lawrence
- Leominster
- Lynn
- Marlborough
- Medford
- Methuen
- Newburyport
- Newton
- North Adams
- Northampton
- Peabody
- Salem
- Somerville
- Taunton
- Westfield
- West Springfield
- Woburn
- Worcester
