Two coalitions of which Progressive Mass is a member submitted testimony for this week’s hearing on the VOTES Act.

Safe Elections Network

Testimony in Support of H.805 & S.459
An Act Fostering Voting Opportunities, Trust, Equity and Security

Joint Committee on Election Laws
May 19, 2021

Dear Chair Ryan, Chair Finegold, Vice Chair Vitolo, Vice Chair Gomez, and members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws,

The more than 100 undersigned organizations write jointly to make sure the committee knows that support for the VOTES Act is deep and broad.
Please accept this letter as testimony in support of H.805 and S.459, An Act Fostering Voting Opportunities, Trust, Equity, and Security, sponsored by Representative Lawn and Senator Creem.

Temporary voter access expansions passed during the COVID-19 pandemic, like mail-in voting and early voting in-person, were not just a win for public health, but for our democracy overall. We saw a significant increase in voter turnout that went beyond just the marquis names on the ballot. With such success in public engagement, it is important to make these reforms permanent. However, we must rise to the times and do even more.

With all eyes on voter suppression bills in other states, now is not the time to sit on the sideline. Massachusetts still has work to do to ensure that every eligible voter has access to a ballot.

The VOTES Act seeks to make the COVID-19 expansions permanent and strengthen our election infrastructure with key provisions like a back-end Automatic Voter Registration system, enrolling in ERIC, and enhancing our post-election audits.

Perhaps most important, it seeks to remove barriers to eligible voters by establishing Same-Day Registration and codifying jail-based voting practices for incarcerated eligible voters. Without these reforms, Massachusetts cannot say that we have done all that is necessary to ensure that every eligible voter can actually exercise the right to vote.

We must take a comprehensive and systemic approach to improve elections in Massachusetts and the VOTES Act does just that. This bill is not a laundry list of ideal policies, but a delicately woven tapestry of best-practices that will help Massachusetts move towards a more inclusive, welcoming Commonwealth.

We respectfully urge you to report H.805 & S.459 favorably out of committee in its entirety as quickly as
possible.

Sincerely,

ACLU MA
Action for Equity
ADL New England
American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts
American Promise
Amplify Latinx
Arise for Social Justice

Black Boston COVID19 Coalition
Black Economic Justice Institute
Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston, Inc.
Boston Ten Point Coalition
Boston Ujima Project
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association
College Bound Dorchester

Common Cause MA
City Life / Vida Urbana
City Mission, Inc.
Coalition for a Better Acre
Coalition for Social Justice
Codman Square NDC
College Bound Dorchester
Community Action Works Campaigns
Conservation Law Foundation
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
Edgartown Democratic Town Committee
Environmental League of Massachusetts
Equal Citizens
ForwardMA
Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution
Freedom House
Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association
Generation Citizen
Greater Boston Nazarene Compassionate Center Inc.
Greater Boston Section-National Council of Negro Women
GSM Labor Council
Immigrants’ Assistance Center, Inc. (IAC)
Indivisible Martha’s Vineyard
Indivisible Massachusetts Coalition
Indivisible Outer Cape
iVOTE
JCRC
Jetpac Resource Center
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
La Colaborativa
La Comunidad, Inc.
Lawrence Partnership
Lawyers for Civil Rights
Lift Every Vote
League of Women Voters MA
Lowell Votes
Madison Park Development Corporation
MAPS-Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers
Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants
Mass Equality
Mass NOW
Mass. Assoc. of Community Development Corporations
Massachusetts AFL-CIO
Massachusetts Against Solitary Confinement
Massachusetts Communities Action Network
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

Massachusetts Peace Action
Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition
MASSCreative
MASSPIRG
MASSPIRG Students
MassVOTE
Massachusetts Voter Table
MITvote
More Than Words
NAACP-Boston Branch
Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts
Next Leadership Development Corporation
Nonprofit Vote
Planned Parenthood MA
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church
Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts
Progressive Massachusetts
Progressives for Democracy in America
Project R.I.G.H.T.
Providers’ Council- CareVote
Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts
Quincy Geneva New Vision CDC
Racial Justice Rising
Reclaim Our Democracy
Roca Inc.
Rosie’s Place
1199 SEIU
Shana Bryant Consulting Services
Small Planet Institute
Sunrise Boston
The Good Governance Project – BC Law
The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
The Real Cost of Prisons Project
The Women’s Pipeline for Change
Transformative Culture Project
Union of Minority Neighborhoods
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action
UTEC Inc.
VOTE New Bedford
Voter Choice Massachusetts
Worcester Interfaith
Yes – Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance
Young Demcorats of Massachusetts
YWCA Malden

Democracy Behind Bars Coalition

Testimony on H.805 and S. 459

An Act Fostering Voting Opportunities, Trust, Equity, and Security (The VOTES Act)

Joint Committee on Election Laws

May 19, 2020

Dear Chairman Finegold, Chairman Ryan, and members of the Election Laws Committee, 

We, the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition, are writing in support of H. 805 and S. 459, known as the VOTES Act. Over the past year, we have witnessed rampant, renewed attempts to silence the voices of  Black voters and voters of color, attacks on the capitol to overturn the 2020 election results, and we have been reminded again and again of the impunity with which police are able to take Black lives. The need to build a democracy that is more racially equitable and truly accountable to all of our communities could not be more clear. The provisions of the VOTES Act — universal mail-in voting, same day registration, and the first steps towards building election infrastructure to serve eligible incarcerated citizens — are critical to that end and, especially in 2021, absolutely necessary. 

It is also long past time that Massachusetts end the de-facto disenfranchisement of eligible incarcerated voters. Although individuals serving misdemeanor convictions or incarcerated pre-trial (nearly half of incarcerated people in the Commonwealth) maintain the right to vote, virtually none of these eligible voters cast a counted ballot. This is because the realities of incarceration make casting a ballot difficult or impossible, and Massachusetts has yet to create an elections infrastructure that allows these eligible voters to overcome the myriad barriers they face. This is not only a fundamental democracy issue, but it’s a racial justice issue as hyper-policing and incarceration of Black and POC communities means that Black voters and POC voters are disproportionately those who lose their political voice to incarceration.

As a coalition that is working specifically to end the disenfranchisement of eligible incarcerated people and lift up the political voices of hyper-policed and over-incarcerated communities, we understand today’s hearing to be monumental: for the first time in Massachusetts history, the issue of jail-based disenfranchisement and the particular needs of incarcerated voters are being considered by this body as part of a larger conversation about the project of protecting democracy for all Massachusetts voters. That is a clear step forward. 

We appreciate that this hearing begins to consider the question of how to ensure that all eligible incarcerated voters are able to actually cast their ballots in practice. Though we know it will be the subject of a future hearing, we also want to draw your attention to H.836 and S.474, “An Act to protect the voting rights of eligible incarcerated people,” which was informed, drafted, and supported by our coalition with the leadership of directly-impacted people. As our testimony will make clear, ending jail-based disenfranchisement requires system-wide reform. We urge you to consider H. 836 and S. 474 for that reason, and also out of concern that there may be only one bite at the apple for election reform this session, so we cannot miss the opportunity to promote the more comprehensive provisions in that legislation. We hope the committee will advance a voting rights bill that addresses the needs of people behind bars in the most robust way

H. 836 and S. 474 provide comprehensive solutions that will expand Massachusetts’ election infrastructure to meet the specific needs of eligible incarcerated voters. These bills were informed by experience, designed by directly impacted people, organizers, and local election officials to address real barriers they have encountered with common-sense solutions. 

In asking this Committee to not only support the VOTES Act but also support H. 835, we are urging it to recognize that the de-facto disenfranchisement of those 7-9,000 eligible voters in Massachusetts jails — voters who are disproportionately Black and POC — is a profound and too-often overlooked democractic failure that needs to be addressed now. For many, the fact that thousands of eligible incarcerated voters are unable to participate comes as a revelation. A budding, broader awareness of jail-based disenfranchisement is the direct result of organizing and advocacy by directly impacted people  who have been disenfranchised and seen the disenfranchising effects of mass incarceration. 

Jail-based disenfranchisement is a system-wide problem that requires a system-wide solution:

• Sheriffs are not required to maintain data that would allow us to know the true numbers of impacted people, or even allow volunteers to reach voters incarcerated on misdemeanors (several sheriffs told our coalition that beyond posting know-your-rights signs, no proactive measure could be taken to ensure that eligible voters serving misdemeanors could cast a counted ballot). 

• There is no legal burden on sheriffs to do anything to provide eligible voters access to the ballot, short of providing eligible voters who request a ballot application with one — and we have no way of ensuring accountability even then.

• Sheriffs statewide have no consistent processes and procedures for ensuring eligible incarcerated people can vote — in some counties, sheriffs told us that eligible voters could receive an absentee ballot application if they “write” to the sheriff requesting one, in counties with ‘active’ jail-based voting programs, a jail librarian kept absentee ballot applications and relied on outside volunteers to mail completed applications, and in the majority of counties, sheriffs do not respond to our inquiries and eligible voters simply have no recourse to vote.

• Those few eligible voters who do access ballot applications overwhelmingly have those ballot applications rejected — in many cases, ballot applications are held for up to 3 weeks and rejected only days before Election Day, making it impossible for eligible incarcerated voters to resolve issues with their applications.

• Until 2020, we do not know of the Secretary of Commonwealth issuing regulations to elections officials on procedures for processing absentee ballot applications — as a result, elections officials including town clerks with jails in their town thought that the law of who was eligible/not eligible had changed. In short, elections officials, office-holders, and others who are responsible for ensuring full participation do not know that there are eligible voters incarcerated, and as a result we have failed to implement systems to ensure incarcerated people can cast counted ballots.

• Jail-Based Disenfranchisement extends far beyond jail walls — eligible voters who have returned to community often do not participate because they believe they lost the right to vote permanently while incarcerated. That is why provisions of H. 836 and S. 474 that make jails and houses of corrections automatic voter registration agencies, and that require returning citizens be notified of their voting rights, are so critical. But as we know, voting is a habit: the best way to ensure eligible voters participate when they return to community is to ensure they participate while incarcerated in the first place.

The list of problems that encompass jail-based disenfranchisement goes on. It is a systemic issue that requires a systemic solution, and one that is best understood by those who have been disenfranchised, including members of the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition who drafted and support the Jail-Based Voting Bill. We respectfully urge the Joint Committee on Election Laws to thoughtfully review the provisions of the Jail-Based Voting Bill (H. 836 and S. 474) in addition to those strong steps forward in the VOTES Act. 

We fully support the provisions of the VOTES Act, especially those like same day registration that research shows both bolsters participation and helps reduce political inequality. We note, however, that those critical provisions of the VOTES Act which were in place as temporary measures for the 2020 elections did not help incarcerated voters who were de-facto disenfranchised from exercising their voting rights. Now is a moment to not only make permanent those reforms that helped voters on the outside participate safely, but to identify and dismantle those barriers that keep disproportionately Black and POC incarcerated voters from participating at all. We support the jail-based voting provisions that are included in the VOTES Act, and we urge the committee to consider these provisions not in isolation, but along with legislation crafted and supported by directly-impacted communities in Massachusetts like S. 474 and H. 836.

Last, as this committee considers critical issues of democracy, voter access, and racial equity in our voting systems, we also urge you to think about the impact that our current system of felony disenfranchisement has on our democratic system. Although people who are incarcerated on misdemeanors, those who are civilly committed, and those who are awaiting trial retain their voting rights, thousands of people who are serving state prison sentences, also disproportionately Black people and people of color, do not have access to the ballot. They were stripped of their voting rights in 2001. Through felony disenfranchisement, combined with targeted policing and criminalization, we perpetuate racial inequity and our continued failure to reinstate voting rights for incarcerated people reinscribes these inequities each legislative session.The right to vote is fundamental and the Commonwealth must return to universal enfranchisement.

We hope the committee sends strong ballot-access language out of committee.

Signed,

The African American Coalition Committee (AACC)

The Democracy Behind Bars Coalition, including: 

Criminal Justice Police Coalition (CJPC)

Decarcerate Western Massachusetts

Families for Justice as Healing

Kathleen Talbot, Holyoke Organizer for Neighbor to Neighbor 

Emancipation Initiative

The F8 Foundation

The Massachusetts Voter Table

Massachusetts Prisoners and Organizers Working for Enfranchisement and Restoration (Mass POWER)

MOCHA Springfield (Men of Color Health Awareness)

The National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls

Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts

Progressive Massachusetts

The Sentencing Project