Common Cause Massachusetts Executive Director Pam Wilmot, one of the advocates who pushed for Massachusetts to adopt automatic voter registration, said the language Baker vetoed “would tell the Registry of Motor Vehicles to do exactly what the Legislature told them to do in 2018 when they initially passed the law.”

Wilmot said the RMV has been pursuing a different opt-out method than envisioned in the original law, and that the delay was necessary because “it will take them some time to change their gears.”

Pam Wilmot of Common Cause Massachusetts said the legislation, based on bills originally filed by state Sen. Cynthia Creem, of Newton, and the late state Rep. Peter Kocot, of Northampton, is among the strongest in the country and "will make our voter registrations system more efficient, accurate, and secure while at the same time improving voter participation."