The time is now to urge your legislators to support Vote By Mail (VBM).  Please email your state Senator and Representative and ask them to support  H.4737 (formerly  HD.5075) - the bill that LWVMA and our partners in the Election Modernization Coalition filed two weeks ago which would send all registered voters a ballot for the November general election. You can find your legislators' email addresses here; email is better than phone calls or letters while legislators are working remotely.

Massachusetts voters' ability to safely cast a ballot in November is in jeopardy. Our election system is just not set up for a huge surge in absentee ballots. As a result, overworked and under-resourced local election officials, who do everything by hand, will not be able to keep up. Just like we've seen in other states this spring, thousands of Massachusetts voters may not get the ballots they request. Mailing all registered voters a ballot, with no application required and a prepaid return envelope, will ensure that everyone can safely vote.

TIMING IS CRITICAL - the legislature must act now for systems to be in place for the Sept. 1 primary election and Nov. 3 general election. The primary election is 100 days from Sunday.

 

In-person voting will still be an option, and the bill requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth to adopt regulations to safeguard the health of voters and election workers at the polls.  

Other provisions of the bill include:

The Election Modernization Coalition includes LWVMA, Common Cause, ACLU Massachusetts, MassVOTE, MassPIRG, Massachusetts Voter Table, and Lawyers for Civil Rights. 

 

See the League's testimony on this bill here. See the Election Modernization's Coalition's testimony here.  Questions? Contact Nancy Brumback .