Gov. Charlie Baker filed a bill yesterday to allow the City of Newton to use mail-in, early and expanded absentee voting next year, reports Michael P. Norton at State House News.
The governor’s bill, filed at the request of Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and the Newton City Council, would permit the city to allow vote by mail for a special election to be held in January or February.
The special election would fill City Council At Large seats in Ward 1, following the untimely death of Jay Ciccone, and Ward 2, following Jake Auchincloss’ election to Congress.
Baker’s bill also states that “any eligible voter may vote early in-person for any special municipal election held on or after January 1, 2021 and before March 31, 2021 in the city of Newton.” Under the bill, the voting period for in-person early voting shall run from “the sixth business day before the special election until the close of business on the business day preceding the business day before the election.”
Thanks for posting this, Greg.
Very good to see this.
I’m curious as to why there is an expiration date, March 31,2021? Yes, it is an exception for this special election but why not let it run indefinitely, for any future special election?
There’s also Sen. Creem’s amendment (#77) to the budget here: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/S4/Amendments/Senate?pageNumber=4&direction=&sortColumn=&keyword=
It was adopted and allows vote by mail for any annual or special municipal or state primary or election held on or before June 30, 2021.
Not sure how that fits with the Newton-specific bill referenced in this post.
@Terry Malloy I assume this is a temporary bill for Newton only since we have special municipal elections while it’s unclear if other cities or towns will. I think either Baker and/or the General Court will come out with a consolidated bill for all the General municipal elections that are coming up in 2021 (especially those elections which will be held on 11/2/2021) rather than file and pass a bunch of bills for each town and city.
I guess the better question is: Why is it temporary with an expiration date and not applicable to any and all? Why not a universal and permanent change? Would it require a change to the State Constitution to allow municipalities to control their own elections?
Inquiring minds waiting for the turkey to leave the oven want to know.
I’m pretty sure we don’t want municipalities fully controlling their own elections. It sounds like a good idea when you have a David Olson, but maybe not so good with someone like the guy we had a number of years ago. Checks and balances matter.