Election Law Reform Act – Senate Bill 327

Outdated election administration laws and procedures wrongly disenfranchise eligible voters and led to three hour wait times at many polling places in cities across the Commonwealth in 2012. Yet has not implemented proven reforms enacted in many other states that would make our elections more secure, accurate, accessible, and efficient. It’s time for Massachusetts to lead on the issue of ensuring free, fair, and accessible elections.

Key Provisions:

 Mandates random post-election audits to ensure that our electronic voting machines are working correctly.  Allows young residents to pre-register to vote when they turn 16, greatly increasing the number who will actually vote when they turn 18.  Allows voters to register to vote online, update their registration online, and verify their registration online.  Enacts a one week early voting period to increase opportunities for voters to cast a ballot.

Why we need these provisions:

 Post election audits ensure that vote counts are accurate and machines are working properly; o instill voter confidence in the integrity of our elections; o is a common-sense business practice that could reveal new information about best practices and machine reliability; o has been enacted in 26 other states in the US (California has had audits for more than 30 years); o can be funded with federal dollars through the Help America Vote Act.

 Pre-registration will increase voter participation among young voters, a demographic bloc with an historically low voter turnout; o would result in about 21,000 additional voter registrations per year, and increase the participation of 18 and 19 year-olds by 5 to 10%; o facilitates lifelong voters – a young voter who starts voting now is more likely to keep voting in the future; o is already enacted in California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon and Rhode Island. o is easy to administer — the current “pending” category for 17 year-olds who will turn 18 by Election Day would need to be reprogrammed.

 Online voter registration and look-up reduce registration processing time, cut costs, decreases errors, and encourage more people to register; o is secure – the system would search the RMV database for the applicants driver’s license and other identifying information and match it to the electronic form.

(over) o In Arizona, registration rates rose by 9.5% with online registration and processing costs went from 83 cents per form to 3 cents. o 19 states have passed online voter registration legislation. Massachusetts is one of only nine states that does not allow for online voter registration look-up.

 Early voting will increase voting options to ensure accessible voting for all; o relieves congestion and wait times on Election Day, especially at peak hours; o improves voter retention and moderately increases voter turnout; o is popular among voters. In 2012, 33-40% of voters nationwide voted early when the option was available.

Sponsors:

Barry R. Finegold, Sal N. DiDomenico, Frank I. Smizik, Jason M. Lewis, Christopher G. Fallon, Carl M. Sciortino, Ruth B. Balser, Peter V. Kocot, Jay R. Kaufman, Jonathan Hecht, William N. Brownsberger, , Thomas P. Conroy, Kenneth J. Donnelly, Thomas M. Stanley, Patricia D. Jehlen, Timothy J. Toomey, Katherine M. Clark, Anthony W. Petruccelli, Mary S. Keefe, Anne M. Gobi, Kevin J. Murphy, , Aaron Vega, Sonia Chang-Diaz, James B. Eldridge, Diana DiZoglio, Carlos Henriquez, Marcos A. Devers, James J. O'Day, , Kenneth I. Gordon, , Jennifer E. Benson