Voting rights organizations including Common Cause Massachusetts, MassVOTE, the League of Women Voters, and the ACLU of Massachusetts testified before the Joint Committee on Election Laws today in support of HD 5075, An Act Ensuring Safe and Participatory 2020 State Elections in Response to COVID-19. They called for the Committee to act quickly to support the bill.

HD 5075 – filed by Representatives Michael Moran and John Lawn – has been endorsed by over 100 organizations in Massachusetts, as of Thursday afternoon. More endorsements are pending.

During the hearing, supporters of HD.5075 testified that the bill will help ensure safe, participatory, and accessible elections during COVID-19, and also help protect the ability of local elections officials to manage a transition to a primarily vote-by-mail election. With the September elections only three months away and general elections, five, the advocates argued that in order for Massachusetts elections infrastructure to be able to handle the necessary changes, the committee and State House must act quickly.

“We support this bill because it is based on evidence and best practices from other states,” says Pam Wilmot of Common Cause Massachusetts. “It is comprehensive, and includes reforms that consider the needs of voters, but also of local elections officials who no matter what happens will be faced with a surge of absentee ballots and very different elections than in years past. One clear lesson learned from other states is that the necessary reforms will take all the time we have to implement, which is why we urge the Joint Committee on Election Laws to act quickly to move this critical bill.”

“Elections matter,” says Rahsaan Hall, racial justice program director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “And this particular election will not only be impacted by COVID-19, but its results will determine the leaders who will govern as our country rebuilds. We need to take immediate, aggressive action to protect and facilitate the vote this fall – by mail, in person, and in safety – in order to safeguard the ballot for everyone and avoid exacerbating systemic inequalities that particularly impact communities of color.”

Says Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, Executive Director of MassVOTE, “Through our testimony, we strived to make one thing clear: HD.5075 is the best chance Massachusetts has to adequately brace our elections for COVID19. This includes vote-by-mail; this includes expanded early voting; this includes personal protective equipment for poll workers. We know what needs to be done, so let’s do it.”

“Every voter deserves to cast a vote safely. We will work hard to ensure that voters with limited English proficiency can access multilingual materials for voting from the safety of their homes, as required by this bill,” says 매사추세츠 유권자 협의회(Massachusetts Voter Table)의 이사인 베스 황(Beth Huang), a coalition of community organizations.

“It is critical that our fall elections are carried out in a way that assures voters and election workers can participate safely and that affirms the public’s trust in the outcome,” says 매사추세츠 여성 유권자 연맹의 전무 이사인 Patricia Comfort. “There is going to be a large increase in absentee ballots. We must make sure they can be handled in a way that does not cause massive disruption. Sending voters a ballot before the November election without requiring an application will help tremendously.”

“As the saying goes, in crisis there is danger and there is opportunity. This bill seizes an opportunity to make our elections fairer and safer in 2020,” says Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG.

“HD5070 lays out a clear path forward to safely enable the voters of the Commonwealth, particularly those most disenfranchised by barriers to voting, to fully participate in our democracy despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 health crisis,” says Sophia Hall, Supervising Attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston.

Organizations endorsing HD 5075 include:
매사추세츠의 공통 원인
ACLU of Massachusetts
매스피르그
대량투표
League of Women Voters of Massachusetts
매사추세츠 유권자 표
시민권을 위한 변호사
1199SEIU Massachusetts
평등을 위한 행동
Alternatives for Community and Environment
American Federation of Teachers-MA
미국의 약속
사회 정의를 위해 일어나다
Berkshire Democratic Brigades
Black Directors’ Network
Black Economic Justistic Institute
보스턴 지역 흑인 성직자 연합, Inc.
Boston Democratic Socialists of America
보스턴 텐 포인트 연합
보스턴 우지마 프로젝트
Burlington Democratic Town Committee
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell, Inc.
Cambridge Area Stronger Together (CAST)
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
Chilmark Democratic Town Committee
City Life Vida Urbana
시티미션 주식회사
Clean Water Action MA
Coaltion for Social Justice
코드먼 스퀘어 NDC
보존법재단
Criminal Justice Reform Task Force of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative – DSNI
End Mass Incarceration Together
매사추세츠 환경연맹
평등한 시민
ForwardMA
Four Freedoms Coalition
프랭클린 카운티 정치 혁명 계속
Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association
Generation Citizen Massachusetts
그레이터 보스턴 나사렛 연민 센터 Inc.
그레이터 보스턴 섹션-흑인 여성 전국 협의회
분할 불가능한 마사스 빈야드
Indivisible Northampton
분할 불가능한 외투
아이보트
Jetpac
유대인 법률 및 사회 행동 연합
보스턴 대도시 유대인 커뮤니티 관계 협의회
La Comunidad, Inc
Lift+Every+Vote
MA Association of Community Development Corporations
MAPS-매사추세츠 포르투갈어 사용자 연합
March For Our Lives: Massachusetts
HUD 세입자의 대규모 연합
Mass Communities Action Network
대중 평등
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
매사추세츠 법률 개혁 연구소
매사추세츠 평화 행동
매사추세츠 여성 유색인종 연합
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
MIT투표
NAACP-보스턴 지부
National Association of Social Workers, MA Chapter
이웃에서 이웃으로 매사추세츠
New England United for Justice
다음 리더십 개발 기업
비영리 투표
PHENOM
Planned Parenthood
플레전트힐 침례교회
매사추세츠 프린스 홀 그랜드 롯지
매사추세츠 진보 민주당
Progressive For Democracy in America
진보적인 매사추세츠
프로젝트 RIGHT
공급자 협의회- CareVote
퀸시 제네바 뉴 비전 CDC
인종적 정의가 상승하다
우리의 민주주의를 되찾자
Right to the City Boston
로지의 장소
Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter
소행성연구소
Somerville Democratic City Committee
Sunrise Movement Boston
The Equal Democracy Project at Harvard Law School
감옥 프로젝트의 실제 비용
변화를 위한 여성 파이프라인
Toxics Action Center
변형 문화 프로젝트
소수민족 지역 연합
유니테리언 유니버설리스트 집단 행동
Voter Choice for Massachusetts 2020
우스터 종교 간 연합
매사추세츠의 젊은 민주당원들
YWCA Cambridge
YWCA 말든
YWCA 동남부 매사추세츠

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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.

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