Voting Rights

Pam Wilmot, Common Cause MA’s executive director, agrees that the state should mail every voter a ballot, and make physical polling places as safe as possible. In addition, she says, the state’s approach to voter registration needs to be revisited.

Pam Wilmot, director of Common Cause Massachusetts, said having a vote-by-mail option would not preclude people from voting in person on Election Day. "If we prepare in advance and have 70-80 percent of our voters voting by mail there is an ability, with expanded early voting especially, to have a slighly different model of in-person voting," Wilmot said.

"We all have obligations to democracy, even in the middle of a public health crisis, and this emergency change will make it easier for voters to have our voices heard," says Executive Director Pam Wilmot. "But this is just a first step...We look forward to working with the General Court again, in the near future, to make changes necessary for all Massachusetts voters to participate safely in the fall elections."

Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation allowing cities and towns to postpone municipal elections scheduled for this spring because of the coronavirus pandemic, but there are already calls for Beacon Hill to consider additional steps.