With Unanimous Bipartisan Vote, Automatic Voter Registration Bill Passes Massachusetts Senate

Commonwealth Poised to Become 14th State to Adopt AVR

BOSTON, MA – With a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 38-0, the Massachusetts Senate today passed Automatic Voter Registration (H. 4667).

A legislação AVR, originalmente apresentada pela senadora Cynthia Creem e pelo falecido deputado Peter Kocot, estabeleceria um sistema para cidadãos elegíveis se registrarem automaticamente para votar quando interagissem com uma agência estadual como o Registry of Motor Vehicles ou MassHealth. Aproximadamente 680.000 eleitores elegíveis de Massachusetts não estão registrados atualmente.

“Automatic Voter Registration will make voting more accurate, more secure, and more available to all. That’s good for democracy, for election security, and for voters,” said Pam Wilmot, Executive Director of Common Cause Massachusetts, which led the broad-based coalition pushing for the bill. “Utilizing existing technology to modernize the voter registration process just is basic common sense, and we are thrilled that all 38 Senators agreed with us.”

The legislation has enjoyed broad support in both legislative chambers. It passed in the House on June 27 by a bipartisan vote of 130-20. Attorney General Maura Healey and Secretary of State Bill Galvin are also supporters. The legislation is endorsed by 65 organizations including environmental, civil rights, consumer, community, labor, and good government groups.

After the House concurs and both the Senate and House enact the bill, it will go to Governor Charlie Baker for signature.

Treze estados e o Distrito de Columbia aprovaram o registro automático de eleitores: Alasca, Califórnia, Colorado, Connecticut, Geórgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nova Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington e Virgínia Ocidental. Um relatório com base em dados de Oregon, Vermont e Colorado concluiu que o custo de implementação do AVR em Massachusetts seria mínimo.

“Embora a supressão de eleitores esteja aumentando nacionalmente, estamos orgulhosos de que Massachusetts esteja liderando o caminho para expandir o acesso às cédulas”, disse Carol Rose, Diretora Executiva da ACLU de Massachusetts. “O registro de eleitores deve ser simples, acessível e seguro, porque o aumento da participação dos eleitores torna nossa democracia mais forte.”

“Elogiamos a aprovação do Registro Automático de Eleitores pelo legislativo, uma reforma que expandirá o eleitorado para aqueles que são frequentemente marginalizados”, observou Beth Huang, Diretora Executiva da Mesa de Eleitores de Massachusetts.

“Nossa democracia é mais forte quando a voz de todos pode ser ouvida. Este projeto de lei ajudará a engajar os quase 700.000 cidadãos elegíveis, mas não registrados, em Massachusetts, fortalecendo a democracia e dando um exemplo positivo para outros estados”, disse Jonathan Cohn, do Progressive Massachusetts.

Meryl Kessler, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, added:
“The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts applauds today’s vote by the Massachusetts Senate. Bringing AVR to our state will remove real obstacles to political participation, ensuring that more voices can be heard.”

“Today we thank the Massachusetts Senate for approving an Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) bill as a new avenue to increase voter participation and accessibility to Massachusetts’ most vulnerable communities,” said Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, Executive Director of MassVOTE.

“If there was a World Cup for election reform, passing Automatic Voter Registration would definitely be a huge goal. Today, everyone who cares about democracy scored,” said Executive Director of MASSPIRG Janet Domenitz.

The Election Modernization Coalition is led by Common Cause Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters or Massachusetts, MASSPIRG, MassVOTE, the Massachusetts Voter Table, ACLU of Massachusetts, and Progressive Massachusetts. A full list of member organizations can be found here, and more information about AVR can be found here.