Tomorrow, we can protect voting rights in MA

Preview - Election laws

Hi ,

3 updates to share with you:

Voting rights - House vote is tomorrow!
Discussion on Anti-Racism in Public Education
Thank you to outgoing Somerville City Councilors

Voting Rights

Tomorrow, the MA House of Representatives will be voting on a version of the VOTES Act.

In Massachusetts, we still have Jim Crow era voting laws that place arbitrary, racist, and classist barriers to voting. This includes the lack of same-day voter registration (SDR), something 21 states and DC already have, and Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have had SDR for decades. Instead Massachusetts turns away voters at the polls if they didn’t register to vote 20 days before election day, disenfranchising thousands of voters every year.

The VOTES Act removes these barriers, and is expected to increase voter turnout by 4 to 12%.

Prior to the announcement that we would be voting on this law tomorrow, WGBH invited me and Cheryl Crawford from MassVote to discuss the urgency of protecting the right to vote in Massachusetts. See our discussion here.

SDR is something supported even by Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin (you’ll recognize him because you’ll see his face when you register to vote online) who oversees elections in Massachusetts.

In addition to SDR, the VOTES Act includes:

Vote-by-Mail
Early In-Person Voting
Jail-Based Voting Reforms

Read more about the VOTES Act on this fact sheet

Last fall the MA Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the VOTES Act 36 to 3 (the 3 ‘no’ votes were taken by all 3 Republican Senators). The MA House is 80% Democrats, so we have a veto-proof majority to pass this law (unlike the US Senate).

Even though we are voting on this tomorrow at 1pm, I can’t tell you if SDR will be included in the House version of the VOTES Act because our version of the bill is not yet available for review by Reps or the public.

Sadly, this is typical for us in the House. We almost always (with the exception of the budget, which is a few hundred pages long) have only a few hours to review the bill and submit amendments.

Despite this, I will do everything I can to keep you up-to-date on what happens in the State House on this issue tomorrow. Follow my Twitter and Facebook for this and other local updates and announcements.

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Anti-Racism in Public Education

I filed the bill, An Act Relative to Anti-racism, Equity, and Justice in Education, in partnership with a BIPOC-led statewide grassroots coalition called the Coalition for Anti-Racism in and Equity in Education, aka. CARE in Education Coalition. Filing this bill with Senator Lewis and Rep. Elugardo and supporting the formation and growth of the CARE in Education Coalition has been such an honor and joy during my first term.

Tomorrow evening, join our community forum to learn about this bill that will develop anti-racist and social justice-focused curriculum for Massachusetts public schools. While this forum is virtually “based” in central Massachusetts, all are welcome to attend.

I’m grateful to my colleagues from Central Massachusetts Senator Eldridge and Rep. Sena, and BIPOC community leaders in central Massachusetts for hosting this event. As with many struggles in the State House, we must build state-wide coalitions and support and I’m so excited to continue to build this state-wide coalition tomorrow.

Thank you to outgoing Somerville City Councilors

Join us this evening at 6:30pm for an event to celebrate and thank our outgoing Somerville City Councilors, Will Mbah, Bill White, Mark Niedergang, and Mary Jo Rosetti for their service to our city.

Public service has been one of the most meaningful but also challenging endeavors of my life and while we may come out on different sides of votes and issues, I am deeply grateful for our former city councilors for their service to our community. Thank you Vicky I and Charan Devereaux for organizing this event!