More than 120,000 mail-in ballots already sent to Massachusetts voters

Just over 20% of Massachusetts voters have already applied to vote by mail ahead of Election Day in November.

As of Friday morning, Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s office has received 973,439 vote-by-mail requests, translating to 20.1% of voters.

Worcester has logged 16,317 mail-in voting requests, which is almost 15% of voters, Galvin spokeswoman Deb O’Malley told MassLive.

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Springfield has seen 11,837 requests, or just over 10% of voters. In Boston, 69,031 residents — or, 15.5% of voters — are on track to vote by mail so far.

Bay Staters are urged to submit their mail-in ballot requests as soon as possible to accommodate potential delays from the U.S. Postal Service. Applications — which can be returned online here, as well as by mail, email or fax — are due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Voters can return their ballots by mail, or by delivering them to their local election office, early voting location or a ballot drop box. Early voting spans Oct. 22 through Nov. 4.

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Over 120,000 mail-in ballots are on their way to voters, though that figure “will be rising quickly,” O’Malley said Friday afternoon.

“Many clerks received their ballot shipments this week, and more are receiving them today,” O’Malley said of local elections officials. “Typically, clerks will package up all of the ballots for those who have already applied and send out one large mailing to start, and then follow up with smaller mailings each days, to new applicants.”

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In the September primary election, just 21.8% of voters cast their ballots. Half of recorded ballots came in before Sept. 6, with nearly 46% done by mail.