Early in-person voting in Massachusetts has begun. Here's what you need to know.

Early in-person voting for Massachusetts’ Nov. 3 state election began Saturday, Oct. 17, and runs through Friday, Oct. 30.

Hours vary from municipality to municipality, and the location for early voting in your city or town may not match your usual polling place. City- and town-specific information can be found here.

Massachusetts also allows no-excuse early voting by mail, which is already underway.

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin’s office said Thursday that more than a million mail-in ballots have been sent out and over 170,000 have already been returned.

Robert Cutler, the town clerk in Foxboro, tells GBH News that fewer people are voting early in person now that they can send their ballot in by mail.

“That definitely has been a factor. A lot more people have been taking advantage of the by-mail voting as opposed to the in-person early voting,” Cutler said.

One advantage to in-person early voting, however, is that it doesn’t require participants to apply for a mail-in ballot. Instead, they simply show up and cast a ballot as if it were Election Day.

Galvin is holding an early-voting kickoff outside Wellesley Town Hall Saturday at 11 a.m. According to a press release from his office, he plans to pitch early voting as a way to avoid potentially long wait times driven by this year’s lengthy ballot, which includes nine statewide ballot questions.

In Foxboro, Cutler said, all the supplies necessary to begin early voting have already been provided.

“The state has given us all of the ballots and envelopes we need for early voting,” he said.

Massachusetts has more than 5 million registered voters. In 2022 — the last state election that did not coincide with a presidential election — just over 51% of registered voters cast ballots.