Findings show Bay State voters experienced avoidable barriers

Boston, MA –  The Massachusetts Election Protection Program Steering Committee, a group of statewide civic and community-based organizations, released its analysis on voting conditions in Massachusetts in the 2024 presidential election. The analysis, using data directly from the program’s field and poll monitor volunteers, identified major barriers to voting, including the ten-day voter registration blackout period, disability and physical accessibility issues, tabulators that jammed or broke, and polling locations in Boston that ran out of ballots before polls closed.

The program trained and deployed over 400 nonpartisan Election Protection volunteers at 140 unique polling locations in 30 different municipalities across nine counties on Election Day. Voting access Issues identified by volunteers include: 

• 156 voters who showed up to vote in-person and who were otherwise eligible to vote but had not registered prior to the ten-day voter registration deadline on October 26;  

• Over 50 incidents of disability voting and other physical accessibility issues ranging from broken AutoMARK machines, limited handicapped parking spaces, lack of handicapped ramps, and a lack of automatic doors and/or doors that weren’t propped open; 

• 14 ballot tabulation machines that jammed or broke and; 

• Significant shortages of ballots at at least four Boston polling places the afternoon of Election Day. 

In response to the myriad barriers to voting identified by the Election Protection Program, the analysis recommends that the Massachusetts State Legislature work to immediately adopt Inscription le jour même, which would allow voters to register — or update their registration — on the same day that they vote.

“Democracy shouldn’t be available on a first-come, first-served basis,” said Geoff Foster, directeur exécutif de Common Cause Massachusetts. “Everyone has a right to cast a ballot, but with an arbitrary registration cutoff period, polling locations without required accessibility oversight, and polling places that run out of ballots, that sacred right is taken away from thousands of voters. It’s one more reason why it’s time we join the 20-plus other states with same day registration.”

“Ensuring the future of democracy requires us to safeguard our right to vote today. We thank the hundreds of Massachusetts volunteer poll monitors who showed up for democracy on Election Day,” said Traci Griffith, Racial Justice Program Director, at ACLU of Massachusetts. “Now, leaders must also show up for our democracy: There are reforms that Massachusetts can adopt to improve its democratic process, support the orderly administration of elections, and remove barriers to the ballot.”

“When elections have barriers, it’s often our most marginalized communities that get impacted and in our state that looks like our BIPOC and low-income communities. The Massachusetts Voter Table’s 40+ partners work diligently every year in these same communities to advance civic access, engagement, and representation to increase resources and power for people of color and working-class people toward achieving a multiracial democracy. That is why we were proud to be a part of the Election Protection coalition again this year and have so many of our 40+ partners trained to be leaders and volunteers on election day to ensure voters had access to the ballot box,” said Shanique Rodriguez, Executive Director of MA Voter Table.

“MassVOTE worked hard to recruit and mobilize Election Protection volunteers, and their dedication safeguarded voters’ access to support at the polls. The challenges identified by our volunteers—such as ballot shortages and accessibility barriers—show that while we did our job on Election Day, systemic reforms like same-day registration are essential to guaranteeing every voter can exercise their right to vote. It’s time for Massachusetts to strengthen its democracy and remove these unnecessary obstacles.” shared MassVOTE Executive Director, Cheryl Clyburn Crawford.

Leading up to and on Election Day, the Massachusetts election protection coalition recruited, trained, and mobilized volunteers to assist voters at the polls. Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights ran the national nonpartisan voter assistance hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE. Voters who experienced any challenges or had questions with any part of the voting process could call or text the hotline to connect with experts who could help in multiple languages.   

To read the report, Cliquez ici.