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On December 10, 2021, we were featured in the Boston Herald discussing an upcoming special state senate election. Read the full story here.

On January 26, 2022, we were featured in State House News Service on the VOTES Act and same day registration. Read the full story here.

October 18, 2022 The November 8 State Election is just three weeks away! Since we have already walked you through how the mail-in voting process will work, we now want to tell you about another fantastic voting option: early in-person voting! Across all of Massachusetts, early in-person voting will run from this Saturday, October 22 to Friday, November 4. During early voting, you can vote at any site in your city or town. But that site MUST be in your city or town. Click here to learn exactly when and how you can vote early. If you requested a mail ballot - but have not returned it - you can drop it off at an early voting site. Early voting is an incredible option, because it allows you to vote on the schedule that works best for you. Whether you are juggling multiple jobs and do not have time to vote on Election Day, or you have a few extra hours to make use of next weekend, early voting is there for you. If you have any questions about the early voting process - or anything voting related - simply reply to this email! Be sure to keep your eye out for further election updates, like on Yes on 1 The Fair Share Amendment and Yes on 4 For Safer Roads. PS: The voter registration deadline is October 29. Have you confirmed your voter registration status? Do so now!

May 13, 2021 We've got some exciting news to share. Earlier this week, co-hosted the VOTES Act Virtual Lobby Lunch, where residents from across the state turned out to tell their legislators why they support the VOTES Act. Though we're still finalizing the numbers, around 150 people attended, and calls were made to dozens of state representatives and senators. Some activists went beyond this single step and met with their legislators via Zoom. We're thrilled by these exciting results, and want to thank you for making them possible. If you want to continue showing your support for the VOTES Act - or do so for the first time - you should check out these resources. Even though we celebrate this success - and celebrate we should - our work is far from done. Today at 4 PM, we're joining our partners in the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition to phone bank for the voting rights of eligible incarcerated voters. Specifically, we'll be calling voters across the state, asking them to contact their legislators in support of H.836 and S.474. These reforms would help break down the types of barriers that currently make it incredibly difficult for eligible incarcerated voters to actually vote. It will, for example, mandate that sheriffs provide eligible incarcerated voters with key forms like voter registration forms and absentee ballot applications. Click here to sign up for the phone bank, or press the button below. If you'd like to support us further, you can sign up for future volunteer opportunities here, or donate to us here. As always, thank you for your support. Without it, actions and events like these simply wouldn't be possible. - All of us at MassVOTE

April 20, 2023: Join us for MassVOTE’s Spring Soiree - our first in-person event since 2019! Mark your calendars for Thursday, June 8th, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., because you do not want to miss this beautiful, outdoors springtime event! Tanisha M. Sullivan, President of the NAACP Boston Branch, will keynote the occasion. Sullivan is a long-time civil rights leader that has fiercely fought for the expansion of voting rights, especially in our state's routinely-overlooked communities. MassVOTE will also honor two remarkable democracy advocates during the event: Armani White and Kendra Patterson. White is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Reclaim Roxbury, a community organization that has advocated for economic wealth and an improved quality of life for Roxbury’s residents since 2015. Patterson is the Field Director of the Massachusetts Voter Table, a longtime MassVOTE ally that utilizes voter engagement tools and grassroots activism to empower the Black and brown, low income, and immigrant populations. The soiree will take place at the Bruce C. Bolling Building’s 6th floor outdoor patio, located at 2300 Washington St. in Roxbury. For tickets, please register here. All ticket revenue is tax deductible and goes to support MassVOTE’s operations. An individual ticket is $75 and a ticket for community partners, young professionals, and seniors is $35 with limited availability. We hope to see you there! All of us at MassVOTE

March 3, 2023: This past Wednesday, March 1, marked the beginning of Women’s History Month. During this month we honor the women who fought for the right to vote and who went up against powerful men to win elected office. It is a time when we pay tribute to the Black women who trekked through the South during the civil rights movement to fight for a more equal America. While we use this month to honor the women who have driven positive, forward-thinking change in America, we also recognize that the movement is far from over. In government and politics, women remain sorely underrepresented. They hold only 28% of seats in congress and 24% of governorships. They make up just 33% of state legislators and 26% of mayors. So this month, we aim to not only lift up those who have driven positive, forward-thinking change in the past, but those that are driving change right now. The first change-maker we would like to lift up is our own Executive Director, Cheryl Clyburn Crawford. For more than a decade, Cheryl has worked tirelessly to make democracy in Massachusetts more equitable and accessible, especially for those traditionally underrepresented, like Black and brown, low-income, and immigrant communities. She has helped ensure the passage of critical voting reforms, including permanent mail-in voting, automatic voter registration and online voter registration. She is also a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Council on Racial Justice and Equity. Thank you, Cheryl! Keep an eye out for the history-making women we will highlight throughout the month.

Join us on Thursday, December 15 at 3 PM for a webinar titled, Don't Leave Your Power on the Table: Understanding Data Gaps and Barriers in Voting. Sponsored by the Women's Pipeline for Change, an initiative of MassVOTE, the webinar discusses who votes and why they vote. The webinar will ultimately dig into how women of color and people of color vote, what voter turnout gaps exist, and how we may close those turnout gaps. Beth Huang, the Executive Director at the Massachusetts Voter Table, will facilitate the webinar. At the Voter Table, Beth (she/her) works with 45 community organizations to increase voter turnout and civic leadership in communities of color and working-class people in Massachusetts. Prior to joining MVT as the Field Coordinator in 2016, Beth worked at Jobs With Justice as the National Coordinator of the Student Labor Action Project and organized emergency services workers in California with AFSCME International. Beth is a senior trainer with the Midwest Academy. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We hope you will be able to join us at this incredible event. Click here to register now!

October 6, 2022 With the November 8 State Election just over a month away, we wanted to make sure you understand exactly when and how you may make your voice heard. Today, we are diving into the mail-in voting process. As with the September Primary, all Massachusetts voters will be able to cast ballots by mail. If you already elected to receive a mail ballot for this election, then you are all set! If you have not applied, but are interested in voting by mail, you should have received a vote by mail application. You can also request a mail ballot online here. If you plan to vote by mail, we strongly suggest you apply as early as possible, as the U.S. Postal Service recommends allowing up to 7 days for mail delivery. Here are the most important deadlines you need to know. November 1 at 5 PM: Deadline to request a mail ballot. November 8: Election Day. All mail ballots must be delivered by 8 PM. November 12: All mail ballots for the State Election postmarked by November 8 must be received by your local elections office by 5 PM. If you vote by mail, you can track your mail ballot here. You can find a list of ballot drop boxes across Massachusetts here, in which you can deliver both your application and ballot. NOTE: To ensure your ballot is counted, only submit your ballot to the drop box in your city or town. Mail-in voting is incredibly easy, efficient, and secure. Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts voters cast ballots by mail in the September State Primary. And for this upcoming election, nearly one million voters have already requested mail ballots. So do not hesitate to take advantage of mail-in voting! Over the next few weeks, we will share more info with you on what voting early in-person or on Election Day will look like, as well as issues like ballot question 1 on the Fair Share Amendment. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is interested in voting by mail, it is a superb - and convenient - way to make your voice heard!

On August 17, 2022, MassVOTE and partners hosted a candidate forum for the Second Suffolk State Senate Race. The Second Suffolk district includes includes Roxbury, Mission Hill, parts of Jamaica Plain, parts of Dorchester, Roslindale, Mattapan and part of Hyde Park. Candidates included State Representative Liz Miranda, State Representative Nika Elugardo, former State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, and Reverend Miniard Culpepper. Armani White of Reclaim Roxbury moderated the event. Primary Day is September 6, so be sure to vote! You can watch the forum here.

July 27, 2022 With the recent passing of The VOTES Act, we want to make clear how exactly the new electoral reforms will impact your voting experience. One of these reforms is mail-in voting, which provides voters the opportunity to request and submit ballots entirely by mail. As the 2020 elections made clear, mail-in voting decreases barriers to the ballot box while ensuring electoral integrity. It also proved immensely popular with voters, as emphasized by the fact that, in the 2020 September Primary and November General Election, a majority of voters cast ballots by-mail. By making mail-in voting permanent, Massachusetts joins a growing list of states implementing the policy. But how will the mail-in voting process actually work for you this year? We break it down. All registered voters in Massachusetts will receive applications for mail-in ballots at their permanent addresses by the end of July (many of you may have received them already!). This will allow you to sign up for mail-in voting for individual or all 2022 elections. If you choose to opt-in to mail-in voting, all you have to do is fill out the application and put it in the mail. Pre-paid postage is included with the mailed application you receive. You may also deliver your ballot application to your local elections office or a ballot drop box. A week or two later, you will receive your ballot in the mail. Fill that out, and follow all necessary instructions. Put it back in the mail - pre-paid postage is also included - or hand-deliver it to your local elections office/drop box. And voila, you’ve voted by mail! If you plan to vote by mail, we strongly suggest that you request and return your mail-in ballot as quickly as possible for each election. Here are the most important dates to keep in mind. August 29: last day to request a mail ballot for the State Primary. September 6: Primary Election Day. All mail-in ballots must be received by your local elections office by 8 PM. November 1: last day to request a mail ballot for the State Election. November 8: Election Day. All mail ballots must be postmarked by this date. November 11: all mail ballots for the State Election postmarked by November 8 must be received by your local elections office by 5 PM. And here are a few tools to help with the mail-in voting process. You can track your mail ballot here. You can print another mail-in ballot application here. You can scan and send it to your local elections office electronically, or physically mail it. You can find a list of ballot drop boxes across Massachusetts here. NOTE: to ensure your ballot is counted, only submit your ballot to the drop box in your city or town. Over the next few weeks, we’ll share more info with you on what voting early in-person or on election day will look like. But in the meantime, if you or someone you know is interested in voting by mail, it is a superb - and convenient - way to make your voice heard!

February 17, 2022: Late last month, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted in favor of the VOTES Act, pledging their support to making permanent critical electoral reforms like mail-in and early in-person voting. However, the House chose to leave out one paramount reform: Election Day Registration (EDR). Now, because the House and Senate versions of the VOTES Act differ, a small group of legislators are finalizing the bill in conference committee. While this is a disappointing development, the fight for EDR is far from over. For over a decade, MassVOTE has supported EDR, and we will support it for as many decades as we must. This is because it is a policy proven to make our elections more equitable and efficient. By reducing voter registration barriers, EDR is shown to boost voter turnout for all, especially Black and brown, low income, immigrant, and young voters. It also decreases administrative burdens of running elections by allowing election workers to update registration information on the spot. We have only emphasized our support for EDR since the House's vote last month. In just the past few weeks, we joined GBH's Basic Black to discuss this policy. Our opinion piece was also featured in the Boston Globe. Additionally, we joined our partners in the Election Modernization Coalition for a press conference in support of EDR at the State House. As we continue to make our voice heard on EDR, we ask for your support by doing so too. Click here to contact your state representative NOW and urge them to include EDR in the final version of the VOTES Act. By doing so, you'll help make our democracy a more equitable and efficient one.

On February 4, 2022, we were featured on the GBH program Basic Black. We joined other advocates in making clear the need for voting rights reform at the state and national level. Watch the full episode here.

On January 26, 2022, we were featured in the Boston Globe discussing the VOTES Act and same day voter registration. Read the full story here.

On January 21, 2022, we were featured on GBH's Talking Politics, where we discussed the state of voting rights in Massachusetts. Watch the full episode here.

On January 24, 2021, we were featured in the State House News Service discussing same day voter registration and the VOTES Act. Read the full story here.

January 20, 2022: Please give a warm welcome to Vanessa Snow, MassVOTE's new Policy and Organizing Director! Ms. Snow is a long-time activist from Boston. She brings decades of experience in labor, community, and youth organizing and advocacy. A UMass Amherst alum, Ms. Snow has previously served at organizations including SEIU Local 509, the Greater Boston Labor Council, and the Hyde Square Task Force. Additionally, Ms. Snow is the board chair of Zero Debt MA, a board member of Student Immigrant Movement, a member of the Mijente National Leadership Circle, and a member of Right to the City Vote’s steering committee. “Civic engagement and voter mobilization are important tools in achieving real change to people's lives," said Ms. Snow. "I am looking forward to organizing and advocating for policies that protect and expand voting rights across the state of Massachusetts.” Ms. Snow has already started digging into policies critical to MassVOTE's mission, such as the VOTES Act, the FARE Act, and jail-based voting reform. You can reach her at vsnow@massvote.org. We are thrilled to have her on board, and know she will accomplish much with MassVOTE!

On December 29, 2021, we were featured in State House News Service discussing steps Massachusetts may take to strengthen voting rights. Read the story here.

On December 10, 2021, we were mentioned in the MA Politico Playbook. Read it here.