Communiqué de presse
MEDIA ADVISORY: Voting Rights Organizations to Testify at Hearing on COVID & Fall Elections Bills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 13, 2020
Media Contact: Pam Wilmot, Common Cause Massachusetts
617 962 0034 | pwilmot@commoncause.org
MEDIA ADVISORY: Voting Rights Organizations to Testify at Hearing on COVID & Fall Elections Bills Tomorrow/Thursday 1pm – 5pm
Media are invited to observe the public hearing by the Joint Committee on Election Laws on bills to enable safe, accessible and secure voting in the fall elections.
WHO: Voting rights organizations including Common Cause Massachusetts, MassVOTE, the League of Women Voters, and the ACLU of Massachusetts.
WHAT: Testimony before the Joint Committee on Election Laws in support of HD 5075, An Act Ensuring Safe and Participatory 2020 State Elections in Response to COVID-19.
WHEN: Tomorrow, Thursday, May 14, starting at 1pm. Speakers are expected to give four minutes of remarks, followed by six minutes of Q&A from Committee members. Advocates will testify towards the end of the hearing and are currently scheduled from 3:15-4:15, although that could change.
WHERE: Senator Barry Finegold’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BarryFinegoldMA/
WHY: HD 5075 has over 80 co-sponsors in the legislature and has been endorsed by over 70 organizations since it was filed by Representatives Michael Moran and John Lawn last week. Lead Senate co-sponsors include Senators Eric Lesser, Adam Hinds, and Harriette Chandler.
The bill will do the following to help voters participate in fall elections despite the coronavirus threat:
- require the Secretary of State to mail ballots to all Massachusetts voters before the November election without an application required;
- affirm coronavirus concerns as a reason to allow all voters to vote by absentee ballot in the September primary and November general elections;
- require the Secretary of State to establish a statewide online portal for voters to apply for and track the progress of absentee ballots;
- allow two weeks of early voting before the September primary, and three weeks of early voting before the November election;
- allow election officials to scan absentee and early voting ballots in the clerk’s offices when they are received – but not permit results to be calculated or announced until the polls close;
- change the deadline to register to vote or update voter registrations to 10 days before the election;
- allow general election ballots postmarked on or before November 3 to be counted, as long as they are received by November 13; and
- require the Secretary of State to issue regulations governing public health safeguards at early voting sites and polling places to protect voters and poll workers.
The hearing will also include Secretary of Commonwealth Galvin’s proposal, as well as bills filed by Senator Cynthia Creem (S2653), by Senator Rebecca Rausch (2654), by Representative Jeffrey Roy and Representative Jon Santiago (HD 5066), Representative Paul Mark and Lindsay Sabodosa (H4623), by Representative Tami Gouveia (HD 5077), Representative Jeffrey Roy (H4699) and by Senator Paul Feeney (SD 2963).
The hearing will be live-streamed on Senator Barry Finegold’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BarryFinegoldMA/.
Organizations endorsing HD 5075 include:
Cause commune Massachusetts
The ACLU of Massachusetts
The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts
MASSPIRG
Vote en masse
The Massachusetts Voter Table
1199 SEIU Massachusetts
Section de Boston de la NAACP
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Mass Communities Action Network
De voisin à voisin Massachusetts
Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter
Association de quartier Garrison Trotter
Lift+Every+Vote
Ligue environnementale du Massachusetts
Association interreligieuse de Worcester
Massachusetts progressiste
Action de masse des unitariens universalistes
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Réclamons notre démocratie
Le comté de Franklin poursuit sa révolution politique
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
Projet sur le coût réel des prisons
End Mass Incarceration Together
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Action pour la paix dans le Massachusetts
Démocrates progressistes du Massachusetts
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
Jetpac
Voter Choice for Massachusetts 2020
Institut des petites planètes
L'indivisible Martha's Vineyard
Institut de réforme du droit du Massachusetts
Chez Rosie
Indivisible Northampton
vote du MIT
The Equal Democracy Project at Harvard Law School
PHENOM
Criminal Justice Reform Task Force of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek
Burlington Democratic Town Committee
MAPS-Alliance des lusophones du Massachusetts
Section du Grand Boston - Conseil national des femmes noires
MA Association of Community Development Corporations
Levons-nous pour la justice sociale
La Comunidad, Inc
Chilmark Democratic Town Committee
Progressive For Democracy in America
Clean Water Action MA
Four Freedoms Coalition
Coalition pour la justice sociale
La justice raciale en plein essor
National Association of Social Workers, MA Chapter
iVOTE
La promesse américaine
Berkshire Democratic Brigades
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance
YWCA du sud-est du Massachusetts
YWCA Cambridge
YWCA Malden
American Federation of Teachers-MA
Right to the City Boston
Alternatives for Community and Environment
City Life Vida Urbana
New England United for Justice
Black Directors’ Network
Somerville Democratic City Committee
Jeunes démocrates du Massachusetts
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The Election Modernization Coalition is comprised of the ACLU of Massachusetts, Common Cause Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, MASSPIRG, MassVOTE, and the Massachusetts Voter Table.