Re-Precinct Boston
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SAME DAY REGISTRATION
No eligible voter should be turned away at the polls due to an error in or out-of-date voter registration. Same Day Voter Registration allows all eligible voters to register or update their registration in-person on Election Day or early voting days.
Filed as HD. 2537 - Rep Carmine Gentile
Decoupling voter registration from municipal census
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Not responding to the municipal census should no longer result in being dropped from the voting register. This change will maintain the municipal census for data collection and jury selections but no longer to change a voter's status. Instead, voters' names will go on the inactive list if information that they have moved from the city or town is received from the U.S. Postal Service's national change of address program, from the multistage Electronic Registration Information Center, or from official notice by another jurisdiction. Voters' names will then continue to be removed from the inactive list if they fail to vote (or take other voting-related action) after two federal general elections.
Filed as HD.3498 - Rep Frank Moran
3
Uniform mail and absentee voting forms & Ballots
The VOTES Act enshrined permanent no-excuse vote by mail while leaving in place the existing absentee voting system. As a result of the Lyons V. Secretary of Commonwealth decision in 2022, the legislature has plenary authority to align those systems. An easier fix is to enshrine in statute the ability for election administrators to use the same form and ballots for both no-excuse vote by mail and absentee voting. This quick fix will make voting by mail or absentee voting seamless, reduce confusion for the public and local election officials, and reduce workload and costs for election materials.
Filed as HD. 3437 - Rep Shirley Arriaga
Strengthening accessible polling location oversight
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Requires the Secretary to arrange inspection of all polling places and early voting sites at least once every four years, to ensure compliance with federal and state disability accessibility laws. Cities and towns not in compliance must take immediate action to comply and file a compliance plan, and the Attorney General can enforce compliance in court.
Filed as HD.3551 - Rep Kay Khan