By Isabella Oland
Boston University News Service
Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has said that Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal may not include enough money to cover what he says will be significantly higher costs for local and state elections later this year.
At least two MetroWest town clerks agree with him.
Galvin recently told the Joint Committee on Ways and Means that up to 12 ballot questions could appear on the November state ballot. He pointed out that the $89.6 million Healey is proposing to be set aside for ballot printing costs is only slightly more than the $82.9 million spent on fiscal 2025 elections, which included the 2024 Presidential Election.
Healey’s proposal sets aside $15 million as a contingency, but Galvin said that won’t cover an expected 50% increase in printing costs.
“In the real world, I need real money. I can’t get an IOU balance,” the state’s top election official said.
Hopkinton Town Clerk Connor Degan said he appreciates the state anticipating unforeseen costs, given $3.7 billion in federal government cuts to the Commonwealth. But he has concerns about meeting local costs for things like early voting.
“I know we’ve continued to see less financial support coming from the federal level, so knowing that the state is ready to pick up the slack is comforting,” Degan said.
Town clerk worries about reimbursements to municipalities
The state election budget includes funding for reimbursements to municipalities for unfunded mandates such as the costs associated with early voting. Degan said he’s hopeful that “there’s going to be enough money to ensure that reimbursements can be made to municipalities.”
Degan anticipated a higher early voting turnout for the November mid-term elections, which will include races for governor, state legislators, Congress and a U.S. Senate seat. In past election cycles, Degan said Hopkinton dedicated resources such as staffing to early voting locations but did not see the anticipated turnout.
Natick Town Clerk Andrew Ghobrial said communities must also budget for town elections. Natick’s budget includes three elections in the upcoming year, including the September primary, the gubernatorial election in November and a town election in March 2027.
Ghobrial said he has “boosted the budget to ask for funding to cover all the expenses related to vote by mail, early voting, operational costs for overtime, for staff, everything in between.”
Galvin specifically pointed to the costs associated with the 12 ballot questions. His office is required to include an informational booklet with the full text of each proposal. When including comments from those on both sides of each question, that booklet could run to 100 pages.
Galvin estimated needing an additional $4 million just for the printing costs, not including postage, adding he doesn’t believe that could be covered by Healey’s $15 million contingency.
In his eight terms as secretary of the Commonwealth, Galvin said he has never seen more than eight questions on the ballot. He urged lawmakers to resolve some of those issues before May 6, to reduce both the number of questions on the ballot and the costs associated with them.This article originally appeared in the MetroWest Daily News.
