State senators passed a “groundbreaking” package of voting reforms — including making mail-in voting permanent, expanding early voting access and introducing same-day registration — bringing the state one step closer to enshrining pandemic-era expansions in voter access into state law.
“The overarching goal of this legislation is to move our election system into the modern era and make sure that every voter can exercise their fundamental right to vote,” Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, said introducing the bill on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Finegold, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Election Laws, called the so-called “VOTES” Act a “massive step in the right direction” that builds upon progress in voter access expansion made amid the pandemic.
Senators passed the bill 36-3 in a party-line vote with Sens. Bruce Tarr, Ryan Fattman and Patrick O’Connor against.
The bill aims to make permanent no excuses universal mail-in voting and guarantees two weeks of early voting for general elections and one week of early voting for primaries. It introduces same-day registration for new voters looking to cast a ballot on Election Day or any early voting day, which is already policy in 20 states plus Washington, D.C., including neighboring New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont.
The bill also spells out a plan to boost ballot access for eligible incarcerated voters and people with disabilities.
The Senate bill also permanently empowers local clerks to pre-process mail-in ballots, which will allow election officials to open up ballot envelopes and verify voters’ signatures well in advance of Election Day to avoid reporting delays seen in some regions in the 2020 election.
Gov. Charlie Baker has said he would support permanent mail-in voting, but the Republican governor has been less inviting on same-day voter registration.
Opponents criticized the state Senate’s “rush” to push through the “controversial” reforms.
“They want this to help them in Democratic primaries. There is no good reason why something this momentous and controversial needs to be rushed without support from both parties and without buy-in from groups with differing ideological viewpoints,” Paul Diego Craney of the right-leaning Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said.
The House in June passed a bill making the pandemic vote-by-mail option permanent, but Speaker Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, said the chamber would need a new bill to counter the Senate’s reform package. He didn’t let much slip on what that might include during a Monday conversation with reporters.
House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz has said the bill would cost taxpayers up to $3 million a year to pay for stamps to mail ballot applications and ballots.
Proponents argue the cost is justified as voters have embraced mail-in voting. Nearly 42% of the record 3.6 million ballots cast in the 2020 general election were mail-in ballots — more than the number of votes cast in person early or on Election Day.
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