Chairman Keenan, Chairman Ryan, and Members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws:
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.
At a time when democracy is under attack in many states, municipalities across Massachusetts are instead seeking to strengthen democracy by expanding both who can participate in our elections and how reflective of the electorate the outcomes are. We ask you to allow them to take the lead by giving a favorable report to several enabling bills:
H.725: An Act ensuring municipal power over whether elections are reformed
S.438: An Act ensuring municipal participation of the widest eligible range
H.706/S.415: An Act extending voting rights in municipal elections to noncitizen voters of the Commonwealth
H.711/S.433: An Act providing a local option for ranked choice voting in municipal elections
Enabling Municipalities to Expand the Local Electorate: S.438, H.706, S.415
Cities and towns across the Commonwealth have also sought to expand representation in local elections, by extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds or legal non-citizens. The case for both is clear.
With the voting age at 18, many experience their first time voting when they are away at college, often voting by absentee back home if at all. 16 and 17-year-olds, by contrast, know their local polling locations well: they are the elementary schools, the middle schools, the high schools, the town halls, the libraries. They feel the impact of a school committee election directly. And they can get a powerful experience of democracy in action, which is the best civic education.
Similarly, voting and civic engagement are ways of integrating new community members and strengthening the whole community. Non-citizen parent involvement in school affairs (through school committee elections) can increase studentsā academic performance, and democracy works best when all communities are reflected in governance.
Moreover, both teen voting and all-resident voting embody the basic principle of no taxation with representation.
Ranked Choice Voting Local Option: H.711/S.433
When voters get to the ballot box, they can face complicated choices. Our first-past-the-post system forces ordinary voters to weigh whether they can vote for their preferred candidate or whether doing so would lead to a āspoiler effectā that gives a candidate they like less a clearer path to victory. This same dynamic can lead candidates and their supporters to try to force similar candidates out of a race due to a fear of āvote splitting.ā
Within the current system, the ultimate winner may command less than a majority support, a contradiction of a basic tenet of democracy and a far too common occurrence in Massachusetts elections. Ranked Choice Voting would eliminate these problems by enabling voters to rank the order of their preferences on the ballot and ensuring that whoever wins does so with majority support.
Although the ballot initiative to implement Ranked Choice Voting for state and county elections did not pass, the measure did pass in 78 municipalities in varying parts of the Commonwealth. If such municipalities wish to adopt Ranked Choice Voting for local elections, they should not have to face undue hurdles to doing so.
The number of cities and towns passing home rule petitions on these three issues grows every year, and yet such petitions continue to die in the Legislature. We urge you to stop being a roadblock to democracy and pass these enabling bills.
Last week was an exciting week at the Massachusetts State House, as both the House and Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto of the Work & Family Mobility Act, making Massachusetts the 17th state to ensure that all qualified residents, regardless of immigration status, are able to get a driver’s license.
You can see how your legislators voted below.
VOTES Act Advances…But With a Big Gap
Last week, the House and Senate released their final version of the VOTES Act. The bill contains many important reforms, like making the option to vote early-by-mail permanent, expanding early voting options, and strengthening the protections for jail-based voting. Unfortunately, however, the House’s opposition to Same Day Registration carried the day, and Massachusetts will continue to lag behind our neighbors with our arbitrary and exclusionary voter registration cutoff. The bill would shorten the deadline from 20 days before an election to 10 days, but that’s still 10 days too many.
The bill passed the Senate last week and is on track to pass the House soon.
Many of the educational issues and controversies we face today — state takeovers, standardized testing, charter schools, many more — have interconnected historical roots and mutually reinforcing current impacts that result in huge gaps in school quality and huge gaps in student opportunity. Understanding that history is crucial for finding solutions.
Join the important discussion with Dr. Rooks about her research on: segrenomics, connecting the dots between economics with segregated schooling and community organizers from across the state on their work.
Community Forum on Suffolk & Plymouth County DA Races
We’ll be joining community partners from the Justice for Massachusetts coalition for a forum with the Suffolk and Plymouth County DA candidates on Monday, June 20, from 6 pm to 9 pm.
I was looking at the calendar yesterday and realized something: we were exactly six months to the day away from Election Day (November 8, 2022).
That means that we now have less than six months to have as many conversations with fellow voters around the Commonwealth about the Fair Share for MA campaign and how it can mean better schools, better roads, better bridges, better transit, and a fairer economy.
The campaign will be formally launching this week, and there will be canvasses around the state (and many more to come).
We’ll be hitting the doors and talking to voters about how the Fair Share Amendment could transform our communitiesāfrom well-resourced and affordable public education to safe roads and bridges and reliable public transportation.
Will You Be Able to Register on Election Day? š³
Negotiations between the MA House and MA Senate happening right now will determine whether or not eligible voters will be able to register to vote or update their registration on Election Day.
The four Democrats on the six-person Conference Committee are Senators Barry Finegold (Andover, Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury) and Cindy Creem (Brookline, Newton, Wellesley) and Representatives Mike Moran (Allston-Brighton, St. Mary’s in Brookline) and Dan Ryan (Charlestown, most of Chelsea).
“My name is [NAME], calling from [ADDRESS/TOWN]. Election Day Registration is a simple, proven reform that increases participation, improves the accuracy of voter rolls, and would make Massachusetts more of a leader on voting rights. Please urge the VOTES Act Conference Committee to include Election Day Registration in the final bill.”
Thank you to all of you who joined us earlier this evening, and to those who couldn’t join: we missed you! And thank you to all four of our wonderful presenters: Crystel Murrieta-Ruiz, Cabell Eames, Sana Fadel, and Vanessa Snow!
You can watch the video from tonight’s event here: https://www.facebook.com/ProgressiveMass/videos/526092582299567. If you are interested in making calls to voters in key districts for any of the bills, please let me know! (Phone-banking the friendly folks on our list is fun!) And if you want to be notified if we organize a phone bank around one of them, let me know as well.
Work & Family Mobility Act
The Senate will be voting tomorrow (or if you read this in the morning, “today”). You can join the virtual watch party at 11AM, which is when the Senate will begin session. Register using the following link: https://bit.ly/dff-senate-watch-party.
Don’t forget to email and call your Senators ahead of Thursday to ensure they are committed to voting “YES” in favor of driver’s licenses.
Cabell spoke about hearings this week on the Future of Gas Report (https://thefutureofgas.com/sep), which was written by consultants hired by the public gas utility companies in Massachusetts (Eversource, National Grid, Berkshire, Liberty and Unitil), in response to a request from the Attorney General for the DPU to do a study on how gas companies can meet Massachusettsā mandatory emissions reductions. Instead of doing that investigation themselves, the DPU handed it over to the gas companies. The DPU is now reviewing the consultantsā report and the companiesā plans and trying to assess the claims and assumptions made. You can find instructions on how to submit testimony (due by 5 pm on Friday) here.
One of the priority bills for the Mass Renews Alliance that Cabell mentioned is the Building Justice with Jobs bill (S.2226 / H.3365), which would adopt housing regulations mandating minimum energy efficiency, energy performance, or related energy standards and put thousands of MA residents to work retrofitting 100,000 homes each year to improve energy efficiency and health outcomes, and reduce utility bills and carbon emissions. We have a fact sheet with sample scripts and talking points here: https://www.progressivemass.com/issues/building-justice-jobs-2021-action.
Cabell also mentioned the Mass Power Forward press conference and lobby day next Thursday from 11 am to 1 pm at the State House. You can RSVP for that (and learn more) here.
Raise the Age
Sana had excellent slides about the Raise the Age bill ( H.1826 / S.920), which would improve public safety and reduce youth entanglement with the criminal legal system by allowing 18, 19, and 20-year-olds to not be automatically tried as adults. The coalition has an excellent website, with a sample script for contacting your legislators: https://www.raisetheagema.org/.
The Election Modernization Coalition will be holding an informal in-person lobby day next Wednesday 5/11 @11am in the State House. More details to come, but RSVP to gfoster@commoncause.org if you can attend.
The four Democrats on the six-person Conference Committee are Senators Barry Finegold (Andover, Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury) and Cindy Creem (Brookline, Newton, Wellesley) and Representatives Mike Moran (Allston-Brighton, and a tiny bit of Brookline) and Dan Ryan (Charlestown, Chelsea). If you know people in their districts, urge them to contact their legislators! The Senators both support EDR and need backing; the two reps do not support it and need pressure. Please also write to your own legislators urging them to contact the Conference Committee in support of Election Day Registration.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Can you believe that it’s May already? That means warmer weather, blooming flowers, and both upcoming deadlines at the Legislature and opportunities to take action.
Wednesday, May 4: Lobby & Learn Evening
Join us this Wednesday, 5/4, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm to learn more about some of our top legislative priorities and how to take action to support them.
The first hour will consist of info sessions on legislation. The second hour will consist of breakout groups for taking action in this critical part of the session.
Featured Speakers:
Chrystel Murrieta, Political Coordinator, SEIU 32BJ
Cabell Eames, Political Director, 350 Mass / Better Future Project
Sana Fadel, Deputy Director, Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Vanessa Snow, Director of Organizing & Policy, MassVOTE
This Thursday: The MA Senate Votes on the Work & Family Mobility Act
Our event on Wednesday is timely because the next day, the MA Senate will be voting on the Work & Family Mobility Act.
Allowing Bay Staters to apply for driver’s licenses, regardless of immigration status, is common sense public policy that improves public safety for all Massachusetts families.
Please email your state senator to urge them to VOTE YES on the Work & Family Mobility Act this week!
Saturday, May 7: Free Our Mothers Car Rally in Framingham
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, but not everyone will have the opportunity to spend quality time with their mother due to a carceral system that rips families apart.
Join Families for Justice as Healing and The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls for their annual car rally in Framingham this Saturday (May 7) 1 pm to 3 pm. Come let the community knowāNo New Women’s Prison, No Old Women’s Prison, No More Women’s Prison.
To get more details, RSVP here.
Take Action to Address the Housing Affordability Crisis!
Massachusetts has an affordability crisis, and cities and towns lack the tools to adequately respond.
That’s why we’ve been working in coalition with groups across the state to pass Real Estate Transfer Fee Enabling Legislation (H.137S.868: An Act empowering cities and towns to impose a fee on certain real estate transactions to support affordable housing). These bills would enable cities and towns to impose a modest fee on high-end real estate transactions to create a funding source for affordable housing.
The bill faces an important deadline of May 9th (one week from today) in the Joint Committee on Housing. If no action is taken by this date, the session will be over for this bill.
Can you email House & Senate Leadership in support of this key bill?
Election Day is just twelve days away. Can you believe it?
On your ballot statewide here in Massachusetts, you’ll see two ballot questions.
YES on Question 1: Right to Repair šš
In 2012, Massachusetts voted for a Right to Repair ballot initiative that required automobile manufacturers to provide non-proprietary diagnostic information as well as safety information directly to consumers so that they can choose who repairs their car (rather than being dependent on the manufacturer itself). Technology has advanced in the past eight years, and Question 1 updates the legislative compromise that resulted from the 2012 ballot initiative accordingly. Curbing monopoly power and protecting consumers is a win for all of us.
YES on Question2: Ranked Choice Voting š³š³
Our first-past-the-post system forces ordinary voters to weigh whether they can vote for their preferred candidate or whether doing so would lead to a āspoiler effectā that gives a candidate they like less a clearer path to victory. This same dynamic can lead candidates and their supporters to try to force similar candidates out of a race due to a fear of āvote splitting.ā
Within the current system, the ultimate winner may command less than a majority support, a contradiction of a basic tenet of democracy and a far too common occurrence in Massachusetts elections. We have some of the least competitive elections in the country, and candidates can win with small pluralities and then stay in office for decades. Ranked Choice Voting would eliminate these problems by enabling voters to rank the order of their preferences on the ballot and ensuring that whoever wins does so with majority support.
š¢Find opportunities to volunteer with Yes on 2 here. š¢
š¢Join Ayanna Pressley for a phone bank for Yes on 2 next Monday at 5:30 pm. š¢
Climate & Democracy Ballot Questions
Some state representative districts across the commonwealth will see non-binding advisory ballot questions. We are supporting a YES on two of them in particular.
YES on 100% Renewable Energy āļøāļø
Question: Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would require Massachusetts to achieve 100% renewable energy use within the next two decades, starting immediately and making significant progress within the first five years while protecting impacted workers and businesses?
YES on Transparent Government š³š³
Question: Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in favor of changes to the Legislatureās rules that would make the results of all votes in Legislative committees publicly available on the Legislatureās website?
It’s simple: if we want a livable planet, we need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels. And our legislators represent us, so we should be able to know how they are voting.
Issues Committee chair Jonathan Cohn penned an editorial for CommonWealth about the need to make recent voting reforms permanent — and to build on them with Election Day Registration. You can read an excerpt below and the full piece here.
**
ON SEPTEMBER 1, Massachusetts voters broke a record. Whether by mail, by dropbox, or in person, 1.7 million voters cast a ballot for our state primaries, exceeding the previous record from 1990.
To put this into perspective, 1.7 million is approximately the same as the number of votes cast in the 2014 and 2018 state primariesācombined. And itās more than the 2010, 2012, and 2018 state primaries combined.
We also saw more votes cast in our Democratic state primary (1,427,868) than in the Democratic presidential primary earlier this year (1,417,498), which had itself broken the record from 2008 (1,352,157).
Why did so many more people vote this year? The answer is simple: the Legislature made voting more accessible.
Mailing every active voter an application to vote by mail accomplished two important goals. First, it reminded voters that an election was even happening. (If you have ever volunteered for a campaign, you would be well aware this is one of the main hurdles to increasing engagement.) Second, it enabled voters to cast their ballot on their own timeline rather than having to figure out when during a narrow 11-hour window on September 1 they would have time to go vote.
Earlier today, the Massachusetts Senate voted 40 to 0 for a bill to protect our fall elections during the pandemic.
Like the bill passed by the House, the bill contained a number of important provisions:
Sending an application to vote early by mail to every registered voter for both the September 1 primary election and the November 3 general election
Ensuring all applications and ballots sent by mail include prepaid return postage
Ensuring that ballots postmarked by Election Day will be counted (but for the general election only)
Allowing voters to apply to vote by mail through an online portal and enabling any voter who wants to vote absentee to do so this year
Expanding early voting for the primary and the general
The Senate embraced some opportunities to strengthen the bill during debate today but, unfortunately, rejected others. Hereās a rundown of what happened.
THE GOOD PART I: VOICE VOTES
The Senate adopted several important amendments via voice vote:
Disability Access – Part I: Sen. Cindy Creemās Amendment #2, which requires that Secretary Bill Galvin submit a report to the Legislature within six months after the bill’s enactment on how he can make voting more accessible for voters with disabilities, especially with regard to online voting.
Disability Access – Part II: Sen. Sonia Chang-Diazās Amendment #7, which requires the necessary accommodations for voters with disabilities so that they can vote by mail without losing their right to a secret ballot
Absentee Ballot Request Portal: Sen. Eric Lesserās Amendment #3, which strengthens the language around the online absentee ballot request portal that Secretary Galvin has to create. In particular, it eliminates the requirement for a voterās signature (which is redundant given the need for a signature upon submission of the ballot), adds language that the system shall apply to the primary if feasible, and eliminates āto the feasibleā to the requirement that the system be operational by October 1 (i.e., creating an affirmative requirement for its operationality, rather than a mere suggestion).
Designating the Mailing Address for a Ballot: Sen. Adam Hindsās Amendment #10, which requires that early-voting-by-mail applications contain space for voters to designate the mailing address to which a ballot should be sent (Think: people who have chosen to quarantine somewhere other than where they are registered to vote)
PPE at the Polls: Sen. Joan Lovelyās Amendment #18, which requires Galvin to issue regulations around the use of personal protective equipment at the polls (the bill had merely used the vague language of āappropriate clothingā to this end)
Extending the VBM Application Deadline: Sen. Jo Comerfordās Amendment #33, which extends the deadline for vote-by-mail applications (changing it from the seventh day before the election to the fourth day before the election)
THE GOOD PART II: UNANIMOUS RECORDED VOTES
The Senate voted unanimously in favor of two amendments:
Equity & Access when Making Changes to Polling Locations: Sen. Jamie Eldridgeās Amendment #20, which moves up the deadline for changing a polling location from 15 days before the election to 20 days before the election, and requires municipalities to publicly evaluate and report on whether such change would have a disparate impact on access to the polling place on the basis of race, national origin, disability, income, or age.
Public Education about Changes the 2020 Elections: Sen. Becca Rauschās redrafted Amendment #23, which requires Secretary Galvin to conduct a public awareness campaign to inform voters about the bill, requires municipalities to take recorded votes if they choose to change polling locations, and requires that voter information booklets be sent out no later than October 5 for the general election (and that they explain that voters who have already applied to vote by mail for the general need not do so again).
THE BAD: REJECTIONS OF KEY IMPROVEMENTS TO THE BILL
However, the Senate also voted down several important amendments. They rejected, via voice vote, Sen. Harriette Chandlerās amendment to increase the number of early voting days for the primary to match those offered for the general election.
Strengthening the Protections for In-Person Voting: The Senate voted down Sen. Jamie Eldridgeās Amendment #24 (Guaranteeing Safe, Accessible, and Fair Elections For All), which strengthened the language around safe in-person voting. The underlying bill creates no deadlines for regulations, no requirement for public input, and no requirements for municipalities themselves to plan for the fall elections, and it also leaves out important elements of safe in-person voting.
The amendment would have required Bill Galvin to issue a draft guidance on Safe, Accessible, and Fair In-Person Voting by June 29, make such a guidance available for public comment for at least ten days, and have a final guidance posted online by July 17. The amendment provided a thorough list of what the guidance should cover:
(a) consideration of the layout of polling locations, including six-foot markers and proper signage in and outside of the polling site, to facilitate physical distancing throughout the voting process, including while voters are standing in line (inside or outside the polling location), when entering the voting area, while voting, while casting their ballot, and exiting, ideally through a different door than the entrance.
(b) expansion and redesign of polling locations to accommodate physical distancing throughout the voting process, or, when necessary, the relocation of polling locations to protect health and safety, keeping in mind that closing familiar polling places and contraction in the number of polling locations should be a last resort and only to be used when other preparedness measures cannot adequately ensure safe voter participation.
(c) implementation of curbside voting for voters with physical or health limitations;
(d) the protection of poll workers with personal protective equipment, adequate access to cleaning supplies throughout the day, access to hand-washing and bathrooms with adequate soap, water, and disposable paper towels, and appropriate distancing measures;
(e) voter access to hand-washing and bathrooms with adequate soap, water, and disposable paper towels;
(f) outreach, recruitment, and training of additional and reserve poll workers to ensure that the burden of administering the in-person election does not fall on poll workers at greater risk from COVID-19, and to guard against the possibility that a shortage of poll workers could compromise the administration of the election and the health and safety of voters.
(g) expanding public awareness and participation in early voting and absentee voting to reduce lines;
(h) expanded outreach on alternatives to in-person voting for those populations identified by the department of public health to be at great risk from COVID-19.
The amendment also requires cities and towns to have their own election preparedness plans no later than 30 days before the election.
Only 16 senators voted for this common-sense amendment, and 23 voted against it.
Elections Committee Chairman Barry Finegold argued that the amendment was covered by Sen. Joan Lovelyās Amendment #18 (which merely changed the words āappropriate clothingā to āpersonal protective equipmentā) and that Secretary Galvin has already committed to much of the amendmentās content. He probably even gave a pinky swear!
Streamlining the Vote-By-Mail Process: The Senate also rejected an amendment from Sen. Diana DiZoglio (#28, Providing for a uniform early voting/absentee ballot) to streamline the vote-by-mail process by creating a standard form for absentee ballot requests and early-vote-by-mail requests. Such a change would reduce possible voter confusion and make the jobs of poll workers simpler.
As Sen. DiZoglio noted, if the bill treats taking precaution related to COVID-19 as a valid excuse for not being able to vote in person on election day, then the distinction between an absentee ballot application and an early-vote-by-mail application is a meaningless formality, not a substantive difference.
Only 14 senators voted for this common-sense amendment, and 25 voted against it.
Now, it’s the Senate’s time to vote, and that means another opportunity to improve the bill–to make it better for voting access and better for public health.
That’s why we’re supporting the following amendments:
#1 (Rausch): Automatic Ballot Delivery for the General Election, which would automatically mail general election early voting ballots to every active registered voter in the Commonwealth
#3 (Lesser): Strengthening mail ballot request online portal, which strengthens the bill’s language establishing an online portal for absentee ballot requests
#6 (Chandler): Creating a Timely Online Ballot Request Portal, which would ensure that the early voting portal is available for the primary election as well as the general, as is included in the House version
#7 (Chang-Diaz): Voting Accessibility, which requires the necessary accommodations for individuals with disabilities to be able to vote by mail
#8 (Hinds): Ballots Mailed by Election Day, which ensures that ballots mailed by Election Day will be counted
#15 (Eldridge): Same Day Registration, which establishes same-day voter registration for all 2020 elections.
#20 (Eldridge): Safeguarding equity and access when making changes to polling places, which requires cities and towns to make specific findings when changing polling places, including that doing so would not have a disparate adverse impact on access to the polls on the basis of race, national origin, disability, income, or age, and increases the notice period for changed polling location from 15 to 20 days.
#23 (Rausch): Voter education and outreach, which requires Secretary Galvin to conduct a public awareness campaign promoting the new and expanded early voting and mail voting procedures included in the bill.
#24 (Eldridge): Guaranteeing Safe, Accessible, and Fair Elections For All, which strengthens the protections of and guidance around safe in-person voting
#35 (Cyr): Language Access, which requires transliteration of all candidates’ names as part of the bilingual ballot (for all translated ballots in languages not using Roman alphabet) and requires all candidates to be provided with written copy of transliteration
Yesterday, the MA House voted for a bill that took some important steps, but contained some glaring omissions. Here are some of the key parts of the bill.
Sending an application to vote by mail to every registered voter for both the September 1 primary election and the November 3 general election
Ensuring all applications and ballots sent by mail include prepaid return postage
Ensuring that ballots postmarked by Election Day will be counted (but for the general election only)
Allowing voters to apply to vote by mail through an online portal and enabling any voter who wants to vote absentee to do so this year
Expanding early voting for the primary and the general
However, there were major omissions. And most reps passed on an opportunity to address them.
As noted above, the requirement to count every ballot postmarked by the election only applies to the general, not the primary. (The House ruled an amendment to do so, filed by Rep. Maria Robinson of Framingham, as “out of order.”)
The bill reduced the 20-day voter registration blackout period to a 10-day blackout period. But with our primary happening on move-in day, housing instability high, voter registration drives impossible this summer, and physical voter registration forms hard to come by, that does not address the fundamental reasons why we need Election Day Registration. Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa (D-Northampton) filed an amendment to authorize Election Day Registration and to create a streamlined online registration process, but the House voted it down. You can see the vote below.
The House also voted down an amendment from Rep. Tami Gouveia (D-Acton) to strengthen the protections for safe in-person voting, such as spelling out clearly what Galvin needs to do and requiring municipalities to have preparedness plans. Her amendment would have also required 25+ days of notice for changes in polling locations. (An amendment that increased the notice in the underlying bill from 10+ days to 15+ days passed, but 15 days is still too short).
Like how your state rep voted? Don’t like how they voted? Let them know.
Why did reps vote against these common-sense measures–especially reps that say they support Election Day Registration in other cases? Many of the Republicans simply don’t care about protecting the franchise (unfortunately, some Democrats too). But for most Democrats, they care more about staying in the good graces of an authoritarian House Leadership than they care about their progressive values. And it’s up to you — their constituents — to change that.
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