Press Release: 2021-07-22
Legislature AGAIN uses informal session to extend mail-in voting
Legislature AGAIN uses informal session to extend mail-in voting:
No roll call votes. No transparency. The State House remains closed to the public.
July 21, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Evan Lips, communications director, 617-523-5005 ext. 245
WOBURN -- For the second time in the current legislative session, House lawmakers took advantage of an informal session to extend universal mail-in voting, a controversial policy adopted as a temporary measure during the state's COVID-19 lockdown response.
Extending the policy by way of an informal session means not only was there no roll call vote or public debate, a single objection from Republican House Minority Leader Brad Jones could have delayed the vote until next week's formal session.
Holding the vote during a formal session also means that lawmakers would have had to actually vote on the measure, which Democrats stuck inside of an unrelated $261.6 million spending bill:
"Rather than make the Democrats come in and actually have to vote on this legislation, Representative Jones, as he has done time and time again, stood by and did nothing," Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons said Wednesday. "The GOP has to stand up and be an effective opposition party.
"Anyone with even minor concerns about mail-in voting should be outraged by this maneuver. Election integrity is one of the most important issues in America right now, and based upon our experience with Boston election officials massively undercounting votes in 2020, our concerns are 100 percent valid."
The extension is valid until Dec. 15.
Paid for by the Massachusetts Republican Party
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee