Ending the De Facto Disenfranchisement in Our Carceral System

Prison

October 6, 2021

Chairman Finegold, Chairman Ryan, and Members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws:

I am submitting testimony in my capacity as Chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts. We urge a favorable report for S.474 / H.836: An Act to Protect the Voting Rights of Eligible Incarcerated People.

Progressive Massachusetts is a statewide grassroots organization devoted to advancing policies that would make Massachusetts more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic.

We believe that our democracy is strongest when all are able to participate, but many prospective voters face near insurmountable barriers in seeking to do so.

Take, for example, those who are incarcerated. In Massachusetts, individuals who are incarcerated without felony convictions maintain their right to vote, but too often they are unable to exercise that vote in practice. If individuals do not have timely access to the materials and information they need to vote, then that right does not exist.

It is important to remember that many of these incarcerated individuals are in pre-trial detention: in other words, they have not yet been convicted of any crime, but they are, in practice, losing their right to vote.

When incarceration leads to a loss of voting rights, it is clear that mass incarceration is a form of racist voter suppression. Indeed, while only 21 percent of the state’s population is Black or Latinx, more than 54 percent of the people incarcerated in the Department of Corrections are. Mass incarceration is systematically reducing Black and Brown voters from the electorate.

It is not lost on us that the only two states in the US that have full voter enfranchisement, including for those incarcerated with felony convictions, are Maine and Vermont, the two whitest states. Indeed, we can see the clear connections to the history of racist voter suppression in this country that we routinely call out when it happens elsewhere and need to call out when it happens here.

The practices and procedures around voting within our correctional system have an impact on incarcerated individuals even beyond their time there. When individuals are confused about whether or not they maintain their right to vote, they can be led to believe that they have lost it, even when they return to the community. Even though we have no laws disenfranchising individuals post-incarceration, I have—in my experience volunteering around the commonwealth—encountered individuals who believed they could not vote because of a past conviction. Confusion is a hallmark of voter suppression.

These bills would help us end such disenfranchisement by requiring sheriffs to provide all eligible voters ballot applications, voting materials, and a private place to vote, and to ensure timely return of applications and ballots, among other steps; and by improving registration rates for returning citizens. It also strengthens data and reporting because you can’t fix what you can’t measure.

Studies have shown that voting and civic participation are conducive to successful re-entry by giving returning citizens a stake in the future of their community. When we vote, we are voting for the world we want, or at least prefer, to live in, and we are strengthening the social fabric.

We urge you to vote in support of this bill to make the right to vote meaningful ­­­­­­for all.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts

The MA Senate Passed the VOTES Act 36 to 3. Here’s a Recap.

VOTE buttons

Earlier this evening, the MA Senate voted 36 to 3 to pass the VOTES Act (S.2545: An Act fostering voter opportunities, trust, equity and security), a vital election reform bill that would create a permanent option for vote-by-mail, expand early voting opportunities, and enact Same Day Registration and jail-based voting reforms. The 3 NO votes came from the chamber’s 3 Republicans.

Here’s a deeper dive on what the bill does:

Permanent No-Excuse Mail-In Voting

  • Requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth to send out mail-in ballot applications to all registered voters on July 15 of every even-numbered year.
  • Guarantees postage for mail-in ballot applications and ballots.
  • Ensures the counting of any ballots received by 5PM on the third day after the biennial state election.
  • Gives municipalities the option to set up secure drop boxes for mail-in ballots.
  • Allows election officials to pre-process mail-in and early voting ballots in advance of Election Day.

Same Day Registration

  • Enables individuals to register to vote during early voting periods and on Election Day.

Expanded Early Voting

  • Requires two weeks (including two weekends) of early voting in-person for biennial state elections and any municipal elections held on the same day.
  • Requires one week (including one weekend) of early voting in-person for a presidential or state primary and any municipal elections held on the same day.
  • Allows municipalities to opt-in to early voting in-person for all other municipal elections.

Jail-Based Voting Reforms

  • Ensures that individuals who are incarcerated who are currently eligible to vote are provided with voting information and materials to exercise their right to vote.
  • Requires correctional facilities to display and distribute information about voting rights and procedures, as prepared by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
  • Requires facilities to assist individuals who are incarcerated in registering, applying for, and returning mail ballots.
  • Ensures that individuals who are incarcerated are properly notified of their right to vote upon release and given the opportunity fill out a voter registration form.

The bill would also allow a voter with disabilities to request accommodations from the Secretary of the Commonwealth to vote by mail (including electronic and accessible instructions, ballot application, ballot, and a voter affidavit that can be submitted electronically) and requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth to enroll Massachusetts in the the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which helps states keep more accurate voting rolls, no later than July 1, 2022. States in ERIC received regular, securely generated reports on that show voters who have moved within their state, voters who have moved out of state, voters who have died, duplicate registrations in the same state, and individuals who are potentially eligible to vote but are not yet registered. Galvin was required to join this by the Automatic Voter Registration bill passed in 2018 but has not yet done so.


Good Amendments That Passed

During floor debate, the Senate passed several amendments to strengthen the bill.

Amendment #1, filed by Adam Hinds (D-Hinds) and backed by the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition, strengthened the Jail-Based Voting language in the bill by being more clearly directive in instructions for houses of corrections (e.g., requiring that incarcerated individuals be provided access to sufficient writing instruments to fill out applications or ballots), prohibiting the opening of ballots or delaying of mailing them by correctional staff, requiring that incarcerated individuals be provided information about their voting rights and a (postage-paid) voter registration form upon release, and requiring quarterly reports from houses of correction to the Secretary of the Commonwealth about newly incarcerated individuals who would be eligible to vote and newly released individuals who had been incarcerated with felony convictions and would be now eligible to vote again.

Amendment #13, filed by Julian Cyr (D-Truro), which extended the deadline for submitting vote-by-mail applications from 7 business days before the election to 7 days before.

Amendments #18 & 19, filed by Becca Rausch (D-Needham), which clarified language in the underlying bill to ensure that vote-by-mail and Same Day Registration provisions apply to municipal elections as well.

Amendment #33, filed by Becca Rausch (D-Needham), which made police presence at the polls on Election Day optional as opposed to required for municipalities, reflecting a change made in the bill for early voting sites.

Amendment #35, filed by Becca Rausch (D-Needham), which would require a robust, multi-language public awareness campaign about the reforms in the bill.

Good Amendments That Were Voted Down

Unfortunately, the Senate voted down many other good amendments, often by voice vote, such as amendments from Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain) about transliteration of ballots and pre-registration in houses of corrections; an amendment from Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) on automatic registration at houses of corrections; and amendments from Becca Rausch (D-Needham) to provide for enforcement of the language around ERIC, require polling locations near college campuses, move the state primary to June, and allow voters to return mail ballots at their regular polling place.

Three of Rausch’s amendments received recorded votes.

Paid Time Off for Voting: Amendment #4, filed by Rausch, would have required that all workers be able to take 2 hours of paid time off to vote, ensuring that a work schedule is not a barrier to participating in our democracy. The amendment failed 12 to 26. Barry Finegold (D-Andover) spoke for Senate Leadership against the amendment but did not make any substantive arguments against it.

Drop Box Accessibility: Amendment #17, filed by Rausch, would have required at least one secure, accessible drop box location per 25,000 registered voters in a municipality. It failed 13 to 25. Cindy Creem (D-Newton) argued for Senate Leadership against it, claiming that it would be too costly for cities and towns; if that was a real concern, then Senate Leadership could have decided to include the funds for it.

Permanent Vote-By-Mail Enrollment: Amendment #21, filed by Rausch, would have enabled voters to enroll in vote-by-mail on a permanent basis, rather than just election by election. It failed 7 to 31. Sen. Barry Finegold (D-Andover) argued against it for Senate Leadership, noting that people’s addresses change; however, the state’s enrollment in ERIC would address that issue.

Happy or disappointed with how your senator voted? Let them know.