I agree with Maura Healey and Joe Kennedy that it is a civil rights issue we have vote by mail in place for the September primary and November general election. The linked article cites all the issues with the problematic Wisconsin election as things our state, a cradle of innovation in technology and self-government, ought not to emulate.
Sec. Galvin disagrees. Citing costs, he is against a mail in primary in September, or at lest one that does not disenfranchise unenrolled voters.
Right now Galvin is refusing to commit to truly universal vote by mail where every voter gets a ballot. For the primary his objection is not knowing which party the unenrolled voter wants to vote in, something he is proposing to solve for by sending only registered partisans ballots in the mail which would likely run into legal trouble as the de facto closure of an open primary.
He is also reluctant to do this in November, but has expressed a willingness to bend the rules to no excuses absentee balloting. This is still an opt in system with a deadline a voter would have to know about in advance to request in time.
e every voter to receive a ballot by mail. But Galvin said that would undermine the integrity of the election and create administrative chaos, since independent voters have to choose what party they want to vote in.
Surely our smart state can figure this one out?
Common Cause disagrees with Galvin’s rationale:
The most effective and efficient way to vote during the pandemic is for every voting-eligible resident to receive a ballot in the mail, Pam Wilmot of Common Cause said.
To require voters to request a ballot and then make municipalities send them the ballot is not practical, given that 70-80% of voters could choose the mail-in option, according to Wilmot.
“That is a huge, huge administrative burden on local officials, many of whom are working by themselves or with one other person or part-time,” she said.
Call your legislators and Sec. Galvin to back universal mail in balloting for both the September and November elections.
Well, OK, I’m not sure how to figure out which ballot to send to unenrolled voters either. The only thing I can think of is keep the traditional 20-day deadline and publicize the heck out of telling unenrolleds that they have to go online to change their registration by then. Of course, if only partisans vote in partisan primaries I won’t complain that loudly either.
That’s still a de facto changing of the standard prior to the election. You can be for closed primaries, that’s a separate debate we’ve had already I am not revisiting. You cannot be for changing an open primary in the middle of the primary campaign. That simply is not fair to either campaign. Take it from my personal experience, getting people to change their party registration to vote for your candidate is an uphill battle I do not wish on either Senate campaign.
If we can already afford to mail out ballots to every registered Democrat surely we can mail the unenrolled a postcard asking them to circle one primary ballot or another and then follow up with a second mailing of the appropriate ballot? I think making it opt in and going through registration hoops depresses turnout and makes it harder for people to vote.