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On September 2, 2021, we were featured in a letter to the editor in the Holbrook Sun discussing redistricting. You can read the full letter here.

On Thursday, August 26th, we were featured in the Boston Globe on the issue of reprecincting Boston. Read the story here.

August 24, 2021: This fall, millions of Massachusetts residents will have the opportunity to elect the very officials that have the greatest impact on their day-to-day lives. These include mayors, city councilors, school committee members, and more. Officials like these have immense authority over policy areas including police budgets, education, and construction. By voting, citizens will utilize the civic power granted to them to ultimately express their values and beliefs. But will anyone actually vote? This fall, dozens of cities across the Commonwealth will hold their biennial municipal elections. Yet voter turnout in local elections is known for being abysmally low, and for good reason. According to the New York Times, only 15-27 percent of eligible voters turn out for local elections. Those statistics, for the most part, hold true in Massachusetts. In 2017, for instance, when Boston last elected a mayor, only 28% of voters turned out. In 2019, when the mayor’s office was not up for election, voter turnout fell even lower: 17%. Additionally, only 17% of voters cast ballots in Worcester’s 2019 municipal election. In Lowell, that rate rose to 19%. But in Springfield, only 16% of those eligible voted. To help raise awareness around the fall 2021 municipal elections, we've created a collection of key materials. These include an elections guide that lists when each preliminary and municipal election takes place, as well as a fact sheet that notes what the voter registration deadline is, how you may vote by mail, and more. These also include a wide variety of candidate guides that explain who's running for office, and what their stance is on key issues, in cities like Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and more. You can review these materials, and more, by visiting our webpage. If your community is holding an election (or elections) this fall, it is essential that you turn out and have your voice heard. If not, you risk letting others dictate where you stand on issues like criminal justice reform, education, and more. Check out our resources to make sure you know everything you need to know to vote. Then, share these resources with other members of your community so that they may turn out too. Their interests, like yours, must not go ignored. - All of us at MassVOTE PS: The voter registration deadline for Boston's Sept. 14 Preliminary Election is Wednesday, Aug. 25. Click here to make sure your voter registration is up-to-date (or register for the first time!)

On August 23rd, 2021, our Letter to the Editor was featured in the Boston Globe. Read it here.

On August 12th, 2021, we were featured in the Boston Globe alongside our partners in the Drawing Democracy coalition discussing the 2020 Census data. Read more here.

On Friday, August 13th, we were featured in the Politico Massachusetts Playbook discussing the redistricting process. You can read it here.

On Thursday, August 12th, we were featured in the Boston Herald discussing the release of the 2020 Census data. Read more here.

On Thursday, August 12th, we were featured in the Boston Globe, where we discussed the results of the 2020 Census. Read more here.

On Thursday, August 12th, our opinion piece on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was featured in the Bay State Banner. You can read it here.

On Wednesday, August 11th, we were featured in the Boston Globe discussing the impact of redistricting. Read more here.

On Thursday, August 5th, we were featured on 22 News WWLP discussing potential ballot questions for 2022. Learn more here.

August 6, 2021 - By: Cheryl Clyburn Crawford - 56 years ago, President Johnson signed into law one of the most important pieces of legislation in American history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law took a number of important steps to empower citizens that long faced de facto and de jure barriers to the ballot box. It repealed blatantly racist policies like literacy tests, and provided the federal government the tools it needed to stamp out segregationist electoral policies wherever they were introduced. The Voting Rights Act was more than a symbolic victory: it was a truly substantive piece of policy that proved highly effective in achieving its goal. For example, in 1952 – prior to the law’s passage – only about one million, or 20% of eligible Black individuals in the South were registered to vote. By 1968 – three years after the law’s passage – that number had climbed to three million, or 60%. The federal government built upon this success in the following decades by making the Voting Rights Act even stronger. Section 203 of the Act, for instance, introduced protections for non-English speaking populations to ensure that they could receive all election-related materials in their spoken language. In a matter of decades, the federal government took small but critical steps to address the racism and oppression that had plagued its electoral system for centuries. But in 2013, that progress came to a screeching halt with the US Supreme Court ruling, Shelby County v. Holder. The Court ruled against a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, dramatically limiting the federal government’s ability to conduct oversight in jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory electoral practices. Almost instantly, efforts to undermine voters, especially Black and brown, low income, and immigrant voters, reappeared. Dozens of states across the country introduced voter ID laws and purged tens of millions of voters from the rolls. As recently as this year, the state of Georgia passed a horrific law that dramatically impedes the right to vote, adding additional identification barriers and barring individuals from passing out food and drinks to those waiting in line to vote. Make no mistake: policies like these are targeted specifically at hampering, if not preventing, Black and brown, low income, and immigrant voters from having their voices heard at the ballot box. So, 56 years later, what do we have to celebrate? A crippled law that is a shell of its former self? No. Instead, we have a proven policy that made voting more accessible, empowering citizens that so often saw their interests ignored. It has since been weakened, but it has only been weakened because of the effect it had. It scared those that treasured the status quo, believing that Black and brown, low income, and immigrant communities were not seen as in need of truly just and equitable protection. The way forward is clear: Congress must waste no time in resuscitating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Here in Massachusetts, we must also work to make voting more accessible and inclusive. We must pass reforms like the VOTES Act, the FARE Act, and jail-based voting reform. We must ensure that the redistricting process empowers Black and brown, low income, and immigrant communities to the greatest degree possible. We must treasure the memory of August 6, 1965, and honor the legacy is has since left behind.

On August 4th, 2021, we were featured in the Bay State Banner discussing the redistricting process. You can read it here.

August 3, 2021: Can you volunteer with us? Next Saturday, August 14th, we're conducting voter registration efforts at the NAACP Boston Branch's Annual Cookout. The event runs from 1 - 4 PM, and takes place by the Shattuck entrance of Franklin Park in Dorchester. We'll have a table set up throughout to register voters, and we ask that volunteers serve one of two shifts (1 - 2:30 PM; 2:30 - 4 PM). If you would like to volunteer for this event, please fill out this form. Please let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise, thank you so much for your interest in volunteering with MassVOTE!

On Monday, August 2nd, we were featured in North of Boston Media Group discussing the future of policies like voting by mail in Massachusetts. Read it here.

July 30, 2021: On Wednesday, July 28th, we offered testimony to the state's Joint Committee on Transportation in support of the FARE Act (H3547 and S2261), which would make key forms of public transit fare free on election day. We discussed how important it is that the state pass policies like the FARE Act to ensure that our most underserved voters, specifically Black and brown, low income, and immigrant voters, are able to have their voices heard. But we were not alone. Alongside MassVOTE, legislators and advocates spoke in support of the policy. Representative Chynah Tyler of Boston and Representative Frank Moran of Lawrence both discussed how their own community members face burdensome barriers to the polls that the FARE Act will help address. Additionally, Melissa Kraus of ADL New England explained how fare-free public transit on election day has already proven an immense success in numerous communities across the country, such as San Diego, Dallas, Kansas City, and Los Angeles County. Finally, Nancy Brumback of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts stressed that the FARE Act would benefit not only large, urban populations, but smaller, more rural ones too, as it would apply to the MBTA and each of the state's 15 regional transit authorities. Together, we made our case: at a time when voting rights are under attack nationwide, Massachusetts must stand strong, making our elections as accessible and inclusive as possible. While states like Georgia strip their own residents of rights, Massachusetts must empower its own. A free ride to the polls is the least we can do to make that happen. Yet our work is far from done. Now, we need your support to make the FARE Act a reality. From now until Wednesday, August 11th, the state's Joint Committee on Transportation will be accepting public testimony on the FARE Act. We encourage you to submit testimony because it is crucial that legislators hear from you. You may submit your testimony by simply emailing it to Kirsten.Centrella@mahouse.gov. To help guide your testimony, you may reference our Democracy Briefing and Advocacy Toolkit.

On Tuesday, July 27th, we were featured in CommonWealth Magazine on the FARE Act, which would make public transit free on election day. You can read the full piece here.

July 21, 2021: BREAKING NEWS: the state's Joint Committee on Transportation is holding a hearing on the FARE Act next Wednesday, July 28th at 2 PM. As a reminder, the FARE Act would make all bus, subway, and trolley service fare-free for all statewide primaries and elections. It would apply to the MBTA, as well as the state's 15 regional transit authorities, meaning that it would serve virtually all of the state. This is big news because we've supported the FARE Act since it was introduced this past February. Through our leadership, the FARE Act has gained the support of more than 100 state legislators, mayors and city councilors, and advocacy organizations. We have also helped feature the FARE Act in news outlets like the Boston Globe, the Eagle-Tribune, and 22 News. But to make sure the FARE Act has a real shot at becoming law, we need your support. We need you to tell the state's Joint Committee on Transportation to support the FARE Act as swiftly as possible. To do so, first reference the resources on our website, like our Democracy Briefing and our Advocacy Toolkit. Then, share your support with the Transportation Committee. You may either give oral testimony via Zoom by filling out this form, or you may submit written testimony by submitting your remarks to Kirsten.Centrella@mahouse.gov. Regardless of how you do it, it's critical you have your voice heard. If you have any questions, or require any assistance, please let us know, and we'll be happy to help you.