Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, today released the following statement in response to Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin's proposal to allow residents to register to vote on Election Day, a proposed plan that follows the ACLU’s recent lawsuit Chelsea Collaborative v. Galvin challenging Massachusetts’ 20-day voter registration cutoff:
“Voting is the fundamental right upon which all our civil liberties rest. Yet thousands of qualified voters in Massachusetts have been disenfranchised by the Commonwealth’s arbitrary 20-day voter registration cutoff. That’s why we filed a lawsuit challenging the Voter Cutoff Law, on behalf of several individuals and the voting rights organizations Chelsea Collaborative and MassVOTE. Now that a judge has agreed that the Voter Cutoff Law is unconstitutional, Massachusetts should move forward with the best possible plan to help every voter in every city, town, and precinct exercise their right to vote in the 2018 election, and in every election thereafter. We hope Secretary Galvin is beginning to actively prepare for the possibility of implementing same-day registration in November 2018, including requesting necessary appropriations in the state budget. At the ACLU, we have been working to guarantee voting rights for over 100 years, and look forward to continuing to work in the courts, the State House, and communities to protect and expand access to the ballot.”
For more information about Chelsea Collaborative v. Galvin, click here.
