Statement from the Election Modernization Coalition Praising Boston’s Early Voting Efforts

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In an election year that promises to have record turnout, access to the polls will be more important than ever. That is why the Election Modernization Coalition is pleased that the City of Boston has released today a citizen’s survey to inform their early voting plan for this fall. The Coalition is proud to have led the campaign that resulted in the 2014 passage of the Election Modernization bill, which established the ‘floor’ for early voting. This ‘floor’ requires each municipality to offer voting during regular business hours at one location during the two weeks prior to November’s election. Boston has gotten the ball rolling with today’s release and we know that many of Massachusetts’ other 350 cities and towns also have drafts underway. We hope that virtually every community will go above and beyond the minimum requirements set by the law in order to ensure the effectiveness and success of early voting.

To encourage cities and towns to reach farther than the ‘floor,’ our Coalition has issued an Early Voting Challenge, and will award gold and silver medals to towns that rise above the minimum requirements and provide evening and weekend early voting hours and multiple locations in larger cities. We look forward to recognizing all the cities and towns that meet our Challenge later this fall. For more information on the Challenge, please go to www.EarlyVotingMA.com.

The Election Modernization Coalition is comprised of the ACLU of Massachusetts, Common Cause Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, MASSPIRG, MassVOTE, the Massachusetts Voter Table, and more.