Hedlund sole dissenter.
Massachusetts Senate approves early voting bill
Side by side signs outside a Cambridge polling place inform voters about the special congressional elections in October and December and the Cambridge municipal election in November. (Shira Schoenberg for The Republican/MassLive.com)
BOSTON - The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday approved a bill allowing early voting and online voter registration, by a vote of 37-1.
"Massachusetts will now be a leader in engaging voters rather than lagging behind the rest of the country," said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, which had pushed for the voting reforms.
The bill allows for 10 days of early voting in state and federal elections and primaries, in addition for voting on the weekend before an election.
State Sen. Robert Hedlund, a Weymouth Republican, was the lone dissenter.
The Senate added an amendment that would allow for same-day voter registration, by a vote of 20-8. Cynthia Creem, a Newton Democrat, said during the debate that allowing same day registration would increase voter turnout. "That has to be a good thing in a democracy," she said.
The Senate rejected an amendment that would have required photo identification at the polls.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, who supported the photo identification amendment, said before the Senate session, "One of the things we're going to be very mindful of in this debate is making sure there are safeguards, so that we don't increase access and ease of voting at the expense of the integrity of the electoral system." He said during the debate that the provision was important to prevent voter fraud.
The Senate also approved amendments requiring post-election audits of voting machines and instituting a database that automatically updates a voter's address when they move.
Sen. Barry Finegold, an Andover Democrat and Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Election Laws, said, “The time has come to make these election modernizations. Early voting, preregistration, and online voter registration will make our elections more accessible by expanding access and participation in our elections."
Currently, 32 states and Washington, D.C., allow for early voting.
The bill will now go on to a conference committee so it can be reconciled with a similar bill approved by the state House of Representatives. The House bill had online voter registration and early voting 10 business days before an election. It did not include same-day voter registration, early voting on the weekend before an election, or a provision allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote.
If a compromise is reached and the bill is signed into law, it would go into effect for the 2016 elections.
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/massachusetts_senate_passes_ea.html?utm_source=ML+14%2F1%2F17&utm_campaign=20140117ML&utm_medium=email
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