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 马萨诸塞州选民委员会主任 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 马萨诸塞州妇女选民联盟执行董事帕特里夏·康福特. “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，MASSPIRG 执行董事.

“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.

支持 HD 5075 的组织包括：
马萨诸塞州共同事业
ACLU of Massachusetts
马萨诸塞州
大众投票
League of Women Voters of Massachusetts
马萨诸塞州选民表
民权律师
1199SEIU Massachusetts
公平诉讼
社区和环境的替代方案
美国马萨诸塞州教师联合会
美国承诺
为社会正义而崛起
伯克希尔民主旅
黑人导演网络
Black Economic Justistic Institute
大波士顿黑人牧师联盟
Boston Democratic Socialists of America
波士顿十点联盟
波士顿宇岛项目
伯灵顿民主城镇委员会
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell, Inc.
Cambridge Area Stronger Together (CAST)
查尔斯·汉密尔顿·休斯顿种族与正义研究所
奇尔马克民主镇委员会
城市生活 维达厄巴纳
城市使命公司
马萨诸塞州清洁水行动
Coaltion for Social Justice
科德曼广场NDC
保护法基金会
多尔希慈德修会刑事司法改革工作组
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative – DSNI
共同终止大规模监禁
马萨诸塞州环境联盟
平等公民
ForwardMA
四大自由联盟
富兰克林县继续政治革命
加里森·特罗特社区协会
Generation Citizen Massachusetts
大波士顿拿撒勒人慈悲中心有限公司
大波士顿地区-全国黑人妇女理事会
不可分割的玛莎葡萄园
不可分割的北安普敦
不可分割的外斗篷
投票
杰特帕克
犹太法律与社会行动联盟
大波士顿犹太社区关系委员会
拉科穆尼达公司
提升+每次+投票
马萨诸塞州社区发展公司协会
MAPS-马萨诸塞州葡萄牙语使用者联盟
March For Our Lives: Massachusetts
HUD租户大规模联盟
大众社区行动网络
质量平等
马萨诸塞州经济适用住房联盟
马萨诸塞州移民和难民维权联盟
麻省法律改革研究所
马萨诸塞州和平行动
马萨诸塞州有色人种妇女联盟
精神健康法律顾问委员会
麻省理工投票
有色人种协进会波士顿分会
全国社会工作者协会马萨诸塞州分会
马萨诸塞州邻里
新英格兰正义联盟
下一代领导力发展公司
非营利投票
飞龙
Planned Parenthood
普莱森特希尔浸信会
马萨诸塞州普林斯霍尔大旅馆
马萨诸塞州进步民主党
美国民主进步人士
进步马萨诸塞州
项目正确
医疗服务提供者委员会- CareVote
昆西日内瓦新视野疾病预防控制中心
种族正义崛起
恢复我们的民主
直达波士顿市
罗西之家
塞拉俱乐部马萨诸塞州分会
小行星研究所
萨默维尔民主城市委员会
Sunrise Movement Boston
哈佛法学院平等民主项目
监狱项目的真实成本
女性变革渠道
Toxics Action Center
变革文化项目
少数民族社区联盟
一神论普救派群众行动
马萨诸塞州 2020 年选民选择
伍斯特跨信仰
马萨诸塞州青年民主党人
剑桥基督教女青年会
马尔登基督教女青年会
马萨诸塞州东南部基督教女青年会

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选举现代化联盟由马萨诸塞州美国公民自由联盟、马萨诸塞州共同事业组织、马萨诸塞州妇女选民联盟、MASSPIRG、MassVOTE 和马萨诸塞州选民协会组成。

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