Clean and Fair Elections

LEGISLATIVE IMPERATIVES

  • Ensure everyone can exercise their right to vote by systematically removing barriers to participating in elections

  • Make elections in Massachusetts freer and fairer with ranked choice voting and ending gerrymandering 

  • Get big money out of politics by passing the We The People Act

  • Support campaign finance reform that removes barriers to running for office and creates a framework of public funding for elections

MY PLATFORM

Free, fair, and accessible elections are absolutely necessary for a democracy to function. But the current state of campaign finance and voting laws gives outsized influence to big donors and special interests and makes it more difficult for the average voter to exercise their right to vote. These issues are nothing short of undermining our democracy. 

Every eligible American not only deserves to be heard, but has a right to have their vote counted in selecting the people and policies that will determine the future of their communities.

To ensure that everyone has their voice heard, we need to fight for major structural democracy reform. We need to reduce the corrupting influence of corporate interests and wealthy elites in the policy-making process; we need to protect every American’s right to vote by removing systemic barriers to participating in the electoral process; and we need reform to make our elections more fair and functional. 

I am starting that reform within my own campaign. As part of my pledge to turn the State House into the People’s House, I am refusing donations from real estate developers, fossil fuel company employees, and corporate PACs. This should be the norm, not an exception. 

We deserve representatives that are accountable to the people, not the wealthy and powerful corporations. 

As your representative, I will fight to strengthen our democracy and for every voice to be heard.

WE WILL FIGHT TO

Get big money out of politics

  • Pass the We the People Resolution to put people, not money, in charge of our political system. In addition to reforming democracy here in Massachusetts, we can help ensure voting rights for people around the country by calling on Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment to limit Constitutional rights to natural persons and place limits on political contributions, a move that would undermine the corrupting influence of Citizens United. 

  • Implement a “Clean Elections” system to provide public funding for candidates who want to run for office in exchange for forgoing special interest and high dollar contributions. Such a system would work to ensure that no particular donor - either wealthy elites or special interests - has an outsized influence on the outcome of the election. It would also lift the voices of marginalized communities by removing financial barriers to running for office. 

  • Pass a capped tax deduction for campaign donations. This would help capped tax deduction for campaign donations to level the playing field against the deep-pocketed donors and uplift grassroots campaigns.

Protect and expand the right to vote 

  • Remove barriers to participate in elections. We can expand and improve our system of automatic voter registration, enact same-day voter registration, expand early voting, and make election day a holiday. 

  • Make universal mail-in ballots permanent. Massachusetts should follow the example set by other states to make voting more easily accessible to working people, elderly people, and anyone who cannot safely or easily vote in person for any reason.

  • Restore voting rights to incarcerated people. We can help do our part to break the cycles of systemic oppression and racism to make sure all voices are heard. 

Election reform

  • Enact ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting allows voters to cast their ballot for their actual top preference, without worrying about vote splitting. 

  • End partisan gerrymandering. We need to ensure that the decennial process of redistricting happens in a fair and unbiased manner. One of the ways we can achieve this is by appointing an independent commission to redraw congressional districts. 

  • Make running for office more accessible to ensure communities are accurately and diversely represented. We can introduce and reform regulations on campaign expenditures to cover expenses like child care to make it easier for people from all walks of life to run for office. 

  • Pass legislation to guarantee secure, easily audited, and verifiable voting technology and systems.