Election: Massachusetts Political Parties and Designations

In Massachusetts, registered voters may choose to enroll in a political party, enroll with a political designation or choose to be an unenrolled voter (independent).

All registered voters may vote in general elections. Massachusetts voters enrolled in a particular party may vote only in that party's primary, and cannot vote in another party's primary. Unenrolled voters may cast a primary ballot for ANY party. Political designations are treated as "unenrolled" voters for primary purposes, and so they too may choose to vote in any one of the party primaries.

Under Massachusetts law, a political designation is created when fifty (50) registered Massachusetts voters file a form with the Secretary of the Commonwealth requesting that they, or any other voters, may change their registration to such designation. These non-party political designations may field candidates for statewide office, if they petition with a sufficient number of signatures (10,000).

Once you make an enrollment choice, you may change your enrollment status by notifying your election official in writing at least 10 days before a primary or election.

The list of Political Parties and Political Designations in Massachusetts are below:

Please refer to the following link for further information regarding Political Parties / Political Designations from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Election Division page.