{"id":190,"date":"2020-07-17T19:33:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T19:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates\/"},"modified":"2020-07-17T19:33:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T19:33:50","slug":"secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary of the Commonwealth Begins Mailing Ballot Applications In Response to Lawsuit Filed By Minority Voters and Voting Rights Advocates"},"template":"","class_list":["post-190","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Court Orders Update Next Wednesday\r\n\r\nFollowing an emergency petition filed in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by seven Black, Latinx, and Asian-American voters, Common Cause Massachusetts, and MassVOTE, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin has started sending mail-in ballot applications to voters.","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":null,"related_issues":[100,108,109,462],"related_work":false,"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Court Orders Update Next Wednesday<\/em><\/p>\r\nBOSTON, MA \u2014 Following an emergency petition filed in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) by seven Black, Latinx, and Asian-American voters, Common Cause Massachusetts, and MassVOTE, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin has started sending mail-in ballot applications to voters. The case, Bertin v. Galvin<\/em>, was filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights and Ropes & Gray on a pro bono<\/em> basis, and prompted immediate state action.\u00a0 The mailing started in advance of today's emergency hearing before the SJC, at which Justice Frank M. Gaziano ordered Secretary Galvin to file a status report by next Wednesday outlining steps he has taken to complete the mailing.\r\n\r\nOn July 7th, Secretary Galvin announced that he would not send the mail-in ballot applications to voters as mandated under the state\u2019s new emergency elections law. Secretary Galvin claimed that he did not have enough funds to cover the mailing. Voters of color, Common Cause Massachusetts, and MassVOTE, disputed this assertion, pointing to over $8 million in federal CARES Act funding Galvin\u2019s office had received, and argued that compliance with the new state law is required in any case.\r\n\r\nIn the face of litigation, and a statement by the federal Election Assistance Commission reiterating that CARES Act funds can<\/u> be used to mail ballot applications, Secretary Galvin reversed course on his claims around funding and started mailing 4.5 million applications<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe are glad that our litigation prompted action and that Bay Staters will receive their applications to vote by mail soon,\u201d said Pam Wilmot, Executive Director of Common Cause Massachusetts.<\/strong> \u201cBut the Secretary\u2019s initial dismissal of the law is deeply troubling. We will be closely watching to ensure that the remaining requirements under the law are implemented without delay and that no Bay Stater has to choose between protecting their health and participating in our democracy.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to force the Secretary to fulfill this critical duty under the law, but we are pleased that our lawsuit succeeded in compelling his compliance,\u201d said Oren Sellstrom, Litigation Director of Lawyers for Civil Rights<\/strong>. \u201cThe case will remain active until the Secretary has mailed out every last mail-in ballot application, to ensure that voters in the Commonwealth, particularly in communities of color and low-income communities, are not disenfranchised.\u201d\u00a0 Sellstrom noted that among the ballot applications that still have not been sent are bilingual and trilingual applications used in 12 municipalities.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat the Secretary of Commonwealth has taken steps towards getting the mailing underway is good news,\u201d said Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, Executive Director of MassVOTE<\/strong>. \u201cBut let us be clear: in a moment when our local elections officials are already scrambling to prepare for a surge in mail-in ballots, any delay threatens to make their job harder because it means more voters will have no choice but to get absentee ballot applications and send them in at the last minute. In other states that have held primaries during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen hundreds of thousands of ballots left uncounted for this exact reason. Massachusetts can and must do better.\u201d\r\n\r\nWithout receiving a mail-in ballot application, the petitioners in this case \u2014 most of whom have serious underlying medical conditions and limited access to computers or printers at home \u2014 would experience difficulty requesting ballots and exercising their right to vote without risking COVID-19 infection, illness, and death.\r\n\r\nThe petition, filed directly with the SJC, sought emergency relief in the nature of mandamus ordering Secretary Galvin to comply with the state\u2019s new emergency elections law and send out mail ballot applications by the required date."}}]},"yoast_head":"\nSecretary of the Commonwealth Begins Mailing Ballot Applications In Response to Lawsuit Filed By Minority Voters and Voting Rights Advocates - Common Cause Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Secretary of the Commonwealth Begins Mailing Ballot Applications In Response to Lawsuit Filed By Minority Voters and Voting Rights Advocates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/secretary-of-the-commonwealth-begins-mailing-ballot-applications-in-response-to-lawsuit-filed-by-minority-voters-and-voting-rights-advocates\/\",\"name\":\"Secretary of the Commonwealth Begins Mailing Ballot Applications In Response to Lawsuit Filed By Minority Voters and Voting Rights Advocates - 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