Voting Rights

"Election Day registration will help protect the fundamental right of every American to have their vote counted," Wilmot told a gathering of volunteers who visited the Statehouse on Tuesday to lobby for the bills. "It's a fail-safe to allow eligible voters to cast their ballots. It has been working well for 40 years across the country."

Assistant Director at Common Cause Massachusetts, Kristina Mensik, says currently voters must comply with a 20-day cutoff for voter registration which deprives residents of their right to vote each election cycle.

Press Release from the Election Modernization Coalition from the January 28th Lobby Day for Election Modernization bills to be sent out of committee.

Election Day Registration is a more than 40-year old reform that ensures all eligible voters can cast a ballot that is counted. To understand how voters use this reform, we surveyed states with EDR. The 21 states with EDR report that it is a low-cost, simple reform that is overwhelmingly used by voters to update their registration rather than to register for the first time.

Kristina Mensik, assistant director of nonprofit election advocacy group Common Cause Massachusetts, said with the current voting age at 18, many citizens gain their suffrage just as they are moving out of their home. . .