Thousands of Mass. voters could be turned away at the polls in November unless this law changes
When it comes to matters concerning voting rights and civil rights, Rahsaan Hall doesn’t think of himself as much of a slouch.
But that doesn’t mean stuff doesn’t occasionally slip past him — including that time there was some kind of SNAFU with Brockton’s municipal census, and he found that he wasn’t on the city’s active voter list.
“I took the initiative to fill out the census. I mailed it in, I checked, they didn’t find it,” Hall, the president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said. “Now that’s me, someone with an aptitude and focus toward civic engagement.”
Rahsaan Hall, the president and CEO of The Urban League of Massachusetts, rallies supporters ahead of a news conference at Boston City Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.John L. Micek/MassLive
Hall was one of several voting rights advocates who gathered at Boston City Hall earlier this week to rally in support of bills now before the state House and Senate that would make some key changes to Massachusetts’s election laws ahead of this November’s municipal elections.
Chief among them is a proposal to allow same-day voter registration in the state, and along with that, language that would end the practice of tying a response to the municipal census to inclusion on the active voter list.
The House and Senate proposals, respectively sponsored by Rep. Carmen Gentile, D-13th Middlesex, and Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Norfolk/Middlesex, will get an airing before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Election Laws on Sept. 16.
Other bills before the panel also would make it easier for people living with disabilities to cast their ballots and would increase state oversight to make sure that happens.
Wednesday’s news conference outside City Hall was sponsored by the advocacy groups MassVOTE and the Election Modernization Coalition, which are trying to mobilize voters ahead of that Beacon Hill hearing.
State Rep. Carmine Gentile, D-13th Middlesex, speaks in support of his bill authorizing same-day voter registration in Massachusetts. Gentile and other advocates made the case during a news conference at Boston City Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.John L. Micek/MassLive
Hall said Wednesday that he knew how to navigate the bureaucracy to get that census SNAFU fixed.
But, he said, imagine those thousands of voters who have neither the time nor the inclination to fill out the census, only to turn up at the polls on Election Day and find out they’re out of luck.
Traci Griffith, the director of the Racial Justice Program for the state’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, offered a similar sentiment.
“I am here because we believe that the right to vote is the most important, foundational right in our democracy,“ she said. ”And as the Declaration of Independence explains, our democracy is legitimate based on the consent of the governed. That consent should include all of us, without unnecessary barriers to the ballot box.”
Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., now allow for same-day voter registration, and hence same-day voting.
Advocates argue the practice increases voter participation, particularly among Black and brown communities, and cuts down on the use of provisional ballots, which can be set aside under some circumstances .
That was the case in the November 2024 general election, where elections officials set aside 3,309 provisional ballots, Hall said.
As he spoke, an advocate heaped a towering stack of papers on the table beside him. Those represented the roughly 1,125 provisional ballots that were rejected in Boston, Hall said.
Gentile framed the bill in a broader, national context.
“With voting rights under attack by the federal government, now is the time for us to pass same-day voter registration in Massachusetts,” the Sudbury lawmaker said. “We must make sure that no one is denied the ability to vote simply because they missed a deadline or forgot to change their address after moving or change[d] their last name after marrying.”
“Evidence shows that same-day [registration] increases the number of votes in any given election from 3% to 11%,” he continued. “Black and Latino turnout increases [from] 2% to 17%.”
President Donald Trump has floated the idea of ending mail-in voting and requiring voter IDs. In Massachusetts, advocates are trying to get a voter ID question onto the 2026 ballot.
And because nature abhors a vacuum, Secretary of State William Galvin is also leading a push to get same-day voting onto the 2026 ballot.
As far as Gentile is concerned, anything that gets it over the goal line is welcome.
“If you’re coming to a goal by different roads, whatever road gets there,” he said. “So I think it brings attention to our efforts to get this through the Legislature. Very often, the Legislature looks at a ballot initiative and decides, ‘Oh, OK, this looks like it’s going to pass, why don’t we take care of this and pass the legislation?’ And I hope that happens this time.”
Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune also alluded to that broader, nationwide debate.
In Texas, Republicans who control the state Legislature reimposed restrictions on late changes to voter registration.
The vote came days after GOP lawmakers in the Lone Star state passed redrawn congressional maps advantaging Republicans.
“In Massachusetts, we should be taking our cues from Texas, and doing the exact opposite of what Texas is trying to do,” Louijeune said.
“For too long, unnecessary hurdles have made it difficult for everyday citizens to cast a ballot,” she continued. “Nothing breaks my heart more, and I’m serious, than telling people that you unfortunately cannot vote in this election because you are not registered to vote, and there’s nothing that I can do for you.”
“It is so important that we make our system easier for people to exercise their most basic right,” she said.
Read more analysis from John L. Micek
Read the original article on MassLive .
