KEEP MAILING IT IN?
Lawmakers to debate making mail-in voting a permanent option
The Legislature put its stamp of approval this week on a three-month extension of pandemic-expanded mailin voting — but that won’t help Pamela Powers, the Northampton city clerk who’s juggling an open-seat mayoral race and elections for several town boards this fall.
“I am very much in favor of a permanent mail-in ballot system,” Powers said. “It’s very helpful for the voters, especially in communities that have higher elderly populations or where folks may not go to the polls for something like a municipal election.”
With the Legislature poised to debate making the pandemic-era voting changes permanent, clerks told the Herald that mail-in voting has its benefits — and could potentially boost voter engagement in traditionally low-turnout municipal elections with several open-seat mayoral races across the state this fall.
But those same clerks also cited the additional burden — both in money and manpower — required to run such an expanded system, and are calling for more support from the state should broad-based mail-balloting continue.
“It’s a lot of work. It’s pretty costly,” said Powers, who suggested contracting with a mailing house to send out ballots to ease the burden on local election officials. “But I really do think that this helps voters have their say.”
Widespread use of mail-in voting was credited with helping drive record turnout last November after nearly 42% of all ballots in the general election were cast by mail.
Legislation that would extend that pandemic-driven expansion through June 30 — to help with spring elections in some 200 municipalities — is now under review by Gov. Charlie Baker.
Boston Election Commissioner Eneida Tavares said last year’s expanded measures were “extremely successful.” While the city isn’t taking a side in the current debate, Tavares said Boston is “ready to execute whatever the Legislature is going to decide.”
Quincy City Clerk Nicky Crispo, who sat on a “user group” for Secretary of State William Galvin after the election to provide feedback on the early voting process, said she and fellow clerks in smaller towns found the system to be “bit of a budget-buster.”
“It’s definitely a good thing, but if it goes into law, we need some more support,” including with ballot-processing tech, Crispo said.
In Holyoke, where Mayor Alex Morse’s decision not to seek a fifth term triggered an open mayoral race, City Clerk Brenna McGee said she’d like to see vote-by-mail extended through the rest of the year but wants improvements to the online ballot-tracking system to help residents ensure their votes are received.
Newburyport City Clerk Richard Jones, who’s handling an open-seat race to succeed Mayor Donna Holaday, said he thinks “voting by mail is here to stay,” but suggested a shorter window for early in-person voting.
Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton — who along with Rep. John Lawn, D-Watertown, filed a bill that would enshrine expanded mail-in and early in-person voting — said legislators will solicit and review local clerks’ feedback as they take up various voting reform bills.
“I hope that by June 30 we have a bill that does this in a permanent way,” Creem said.
The Legislature already addressed one concern — accommodating voters whose disabilities create difficulties accessing mail ballots — in legislation now on Baker’s desk.
And Sen. Rebecca Rausch, D-Needham, who filed another voting reform bill, said there’s “healthy awareness” of the need to act swiftly with “tremendous” municipal elections looming this fall.
But questions from some GOP lawmakers remain outstanding about the cost and efficacy of last year’s expansion, particularly after nearly 18,000 ballots were rejected in the primary and roughly 20,000 absentee and early ballots were rejected in the general election.
Alex Psilakis of Mass-VOTE, which supports permanent vote-by-mail, said the expansion likely cost “a few million dollars,” but that Massachusetts could eventually save money by cleaning up its voter rolls, skipping applications and mailing ballots directly to voters, as is done in other states with no-excuse mail-balloting.
Still, Rep. Nicholas Boldyga, R-Southwick, said with more people receiving coronavirus vaccines daily, “there’s no argument at this point for mail-in voting.”