A plain-language guide to how county ballot access works in all 14 Massachusetts counties, starting with the thing most guides get flatly wrong. Massachusetts abolished most of its county governments. Eight of these fourteen counties have no county commission, no county council and no county treasurer, and have not had one since somewhere between 1997 and 2000. Only Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk and Plymouth still elect county commissioners; only Bristol, Norfolk and Plymouth elect a county treasurer in 2026. What every county does still elect is a Register of Probate, and every county sits in one of the 11 district attorney districts, all of which are on the November 3, 2026 ballot. The filing windows closed in the spring, so these pages lead with the door that is still open: the write-in and sticker campaign, and the September 1, 2026 primary. Click the map or use the list.
All 14 Massachusetts counties. Click any county for its guide.
Alphabetical. Each links to that county’s “how to run for office” guide.
Statewide rules, filing basics and official links: how to run for office in Massachusetts.
These 2027 dates are confirmed against the state's own published calendar or statute. Anything our research could not confirm is left off this page rather than estimated.
2027 dates can move, and a municipality can change its own election date by ordinance. Which seats are on a given ballot depends on when each was last filled. Confirm anything you are relying on with the county election office before you act on it.
Motion51 does not hold a Massachusetts voter file and we do not request one on anyone's behalf. Bring the file you obtained and we will run your doors on it. Massachusetts is more open than its reputation suggests, and the distinction that matters is municipal versus statewide. Every candidate below the statewide level works from MUNICIPAL lists, and G.L. c. 51 sec. 55 requires the registrars to furnish the city or town voting list free of charge, upon request, to political committees and to candidates for public office in that district. Free, by statutory right, with no conditions clause and no permitted-purpose list. The annual street list under sec. 6 goes to candidates free as well, and Massachusetts sells that same street list to business organizations for a fee, which is why the notion that Massachusetts bans commercial use of its voter data does not survive contact with the statute. There is no use restriction, no resale ban and no redistribution clause on a municipal list. The one genuine restriction is the STATEWIDE central registry under sec. 47C, which is not a public record and goes only to state party committees, statewide candidate committees, state ballot question committees and a short list of state officials under a licensing agreement. That binds statewide campaigns and nobody else. Expect names, addresses, party enrollment and voting history, and expect no telephone numbers and no e-mail addresses in either list, which is enough to cut turf, score propensity and stop two volunteers knocking the same door, and not enough to run a phone bank. Request your list from your city or town clerk as the campaign, then bring it here. The free tier costs nothing to try.
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