188th HOUSE SCORECARD (2013-2014) (for more scorecards, click here)

We research and compille compile this data for progressives to assess lesgislators' voting records. Read more about our scorecard process, its virtues and limitations, here. We welcome you to use and share this material, with attribution!

To view spreadsheet in a larger window click here. 

Download a printer-friendly version, here.

Don’t know who your State Rep is? Find out here: progma.us/whoismylegislator.

188th SENATE SCORECARD (2013-2014) (for more scorecards, click here)

We research and compile this material for progressives to assess legislators’ voting records. Read more about our scorecard process, its virtues and limitations, here. We welcome you to use and share this material, with attribution! 

TO VIEW SPREADSHEET IN A LARGER WINDOW, click here.

Download a printer-friendly version, here. 

Don’t know who your State Senator is? Find out here: progma.us/whoismylegislator.

This afternoon, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law significant reforms to modernize our elections and expand voting rights in Massachusetts. The law includes online voter registration, early voting, pre-registration for 16 year-olds, post election audits of voting machines, and inactive voting reform. 

Congratulations to everyone in the Election Modernization Coalition: Common Cause Massachusetts, ACLU of Massachusetts, MASSPIRG, League of Women Voters, MassVote, the MIRA Coalition, and Progressive Massachusetts. 

UPDATE! On 1/16/2014, the Mass. Senate voted overwhelmingly for an incredibly robust Election Reform bill, which included very strong reforms: voter registration, early voting, pre-registration for 16 year-olds, post-election audits of voting machines, Election Day registration, permanent voter registration and inactive voting reform. The bill now goes back to the House, which passed a much more limited reform bill, and if they don't pass it as is, it will go to Conference Committee. So the journey is not yet over -- stay tuned for updates. 

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Earlier this year the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, a major protection against  racial discrimination in voting.  After that decision, many states passed anti-voter legislation.  And North Carolina repealed Election Day registration, cut back early voting, and got rid of pre-registration for teens.   People were outraged.  But all North Carolina did was return to Massachusetts-level election laws.  Massachusetts has never had any of those voting reforms.

Massachusetts -- a trailblazer for democracy and a technological innovator -- should be the leader in holding smooth, efficient, and fair elections. Instead, unnecessary roadblocks deter legitimate voters.  Massachusetts lags far behind much of the country in election modernization.  States such as Idaho, Indiana, Wyoming and Louisiana do better. 

Thursday we have a chance to fix that.

That's when the Senate will take up election reform.  And what they pass will depend on your calls.

Find your Senator here.

Speak to your Senator or a member of their staff.  Make sure to identify yourself as a constituent from their district.  Tell them:

• I want an election reform bill that includes early voting, online registration, pre-registration for 16 year olds, post-election audits AND Election Day Registration.
• Pass S1975 and Senator Petruccelli's amendments adding post-election audits and election day registration.
• I want Massachusetts to be a leader in election reform NOT a laggard.
• Please vote yes for S1975 and amendments to add pre-registration, post-election audits AND Election Day Registration.

Report the results of your call here so that we know which Senators we were able to reach and where they stand.

On the last day before Winter Recess, the House of Representatives passed the disappointing election bill we highlighted earlier.  The only substantive change to the bill (HB3772), was the addition of pre-registration and same day registration to the study task force already slated to review audits (a provision the House already passed).  The change only occurred as a result of last minute organizing by Jason Lewis and Carl Sciortino.  The Speaker had previously told advocates that there would be "no amendments".  

We are gearing up for work in the Senate where our own Ben Wright has already secured the necessary commitments for Same Day Registration which passed the Senate in 2007 and was re-filed in 2008 with additional co-sponsors.  Learn more about why Same Day Registration is the best election reform we can strive for.

One interesting note from the debate - Colleen Garry, "Democrat" from Dracut and Tyngsborough, voted with the Republicans to gut the bill.  If there are any progressives in those two towns, perhaps you can ask her why?

Today, in a letter signed by our entire election reform coalition, we asked both Chairman James Murphy and Speaker DeLeo to re-think the election reform bill (H.3647) just reported out from Committee:

The Problem

Last fall Massachusetts voters in cities across the Commonwealth waited in lines of up to two hours to cast their votes. Others understandably could not wait that long and went home. Still others were turned away because of issues around inactive voting lists, registration glitches, and their inability to legally obtain an absentee ballot. 

Massachusetts should be a leader in dealing with these and other problems that put unnecessary roadblocks in front of legitimate voters. 

Indeed, Massachusetts lags behind much of the country in election modernization—even those states that recently rolled back their laws often have advances that have never been law here. 

What We Said

Because the bill contains only online voter registration and an unacceptable early voting provision, we cannot support it in its current form.

We hope that you will consider adding back into the bill the two provisions that the House passed last year—audits of election equipment and pre-registration.

These provisions are important reforms that will make voting more secure and will encourage young people to register to vote.

The House is already on record supporting them and our conversations with members show they retain widespread support. Not including audits and pre-registration seems to be a retreat from a positive stance the House took last year. With these two provisions plus online voter registration and appropriate changes to the early voting sections of H.3647, we will be enthusiastic supporters. 

Of course, Election Day Voter Registration is the most impactful reform that could be included in the bill, and we hope that you will consider either adding it to this package or passing it at another time.

Massachusetts trails much of the country in voting modernization laws and we need to catch up. The current bill is an inadequately small step when what we need is a big leap, and we hope that you will work to rectify that before the bill leaves the House.

Read the Whole Letter Here

Progressive Mass volunteers have been leading the charge on behalf of economic justice for working people (part of that work is working with Raise Up Massachusetts to put minimum wage and earned sick time benefits on the ballot; sign up here to help), but we cannot forget that we are still fighting for basic dignity and support for those on Transitional Assistance.

Get Up to Speed --

• Overview: Preserving the Safety Net

• Recent History: the fight we lost in the Senate

• Why a favorite conservative talking point -- that “welfare pays” -- is dead wrong: the great progressive, former Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, takes on the Cato Institute, and the likes Rep. Shauna O'Connell (R. Taunton) and the Boston Herald who’ve been parroting that line.

• Other posts on our blog about the Assault on the Poor

WHAT'S NEXT?

Our partners in the welfare reform coalition have worked hard to develop a good bill -- one that helps people truly transition from poverty back to the self-sufficiency and the workforce. It creates REAL welfare reform which includes education, training and assistance with transportation. We have been advocating with lawmakers to include vital provisions noted below.

Unfortunately, in our assessment, legislators appear unlikely to follow our lead -- they are too anxious about the Shauna Show and the despicable lie that welfare recipients are lazy, cheating bums who are taking taxpayers for a ride.

DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT

Help change the narrative on social media and the blogosphere, using the #AssaultonPoor and #MApoli hashtags. Talk to your networks and bring them up to speed. And -- tell legislators:

We see what you’re doing, and it’s time to Stop the Assault on the Poor.

It’s time to enact meaningful reform -- the kind that truly assists people in making the transition to a more secure future.

Stop stigmatizing poverty; don’t put more roadblocks in the way of returning our most vulnerable neighbors back to economic stability and self-sufficiency.

WHAT A GOOD BILL WOULD LOOK LIKE:

Since this session began, the election reform coalition has been pressing for passage of Senator Barry Finegold's bill - SB 327 - which included the pre-registration of 16 and 17 year-olds, online voter registration, early voting, updating inactive voting procedures, and post-election audits to ensure the accuracy of our voting machines.  We felt strongly that the bill, while significant, did not go far enough to modernize our voting system - and that we needed to pass election day  registration as well.  (For more detail, check out our campaign - http://www.progressivemass.com/let-our-voices-be-heard-election-reform).

Massachusetts has been falling behind:

• Massachusetts is one of only 15 states that doesn't have any form of early voting.
• Twenty-two (22) states have some form of online registration.
• Eleven (11) states and the District of Columbia have enacted same day registration.

Massachusetts should be leading, not lagging.

Now, the Elections Committee has finally reported out a bill - and it is both surprising and disappointing.

The bill contains:

• Online registration and look up 
• Early voting for Presidential years only. Not on Saturday or Sunday (or at least not the weekend immediately preceding Election Day). One polling location per municipality required, regardless of size. Doesn't go into effect until 2016 
• Study committee on early voting, fraud, and turnout reporting out in 2017. 
• Study committee on audits reporting out in 2014.

What???

Early voting that is restricted to business hours is hardly early voting.  It's the same as the over the counter provisions that exist today without requiring voters to provide a reason - and it only applies to Presidential years.

Audits - this actually passed the House in the last session - but now we have to study it? (A legislative euphemism for bill killing)

Nothing about pre-registration.

And certainly no election day registration - that is only the sole reform that has been proven to increase participation - we probably wouldn't want more voters, would we?

We are working to improve the bill in the House but we aren't optimistic.

Get ready to make some noise in the Senate.

The troubles with the “tech tax” have been highlighted by many inside and outside the business community, and it looks to us like the right call to repeal and replace it.

But now that we’re talking taxes again... let’s remember that the only reason the Legislature has had to try to scrape together new revenue from niche sources (like the tech industry) in the first place is because they have consistently refused to address the obvious problems --address our real revenue needs AND our regressive tax structure -- or consider the viable progressive solutions. The silver lining of the tech tax debate is that the Legislature now has the opportunity to take action and do it right this time.

Innovation Requires Investment

Massachusetts cannot be an innovation and jobs leader if we continue to undermine our education and infrastructure through neglect and ever more drastic cuts. And we cannot continue to rely only on increases in those taxes that disproportionately burden those who can least afford it (as with the gas tax and sales tax).

We advocate reversing this damaging austerity trend, and a renewing investment in Massachusetts’s economic future.

We advocate an increased income tax, structured in such a way to protect middle-class and lower income families and seniors from burdensome increases, such as in "An Act to Invest in Our Communities."

Unlike the tech tax, which targeted one sector of the economy in a complicated and unfair fashion, an income tax/personal exemption increase would be:

1. Fair -- People making less pay less; when you do better, you pay a little more, which reduces the overall regressivity of our Massachusetts tax system (the poor pay disproportionately MORE of their income than the wealthy, who pay the LEAST]).
2. Simple -- it applies to everybody.
3. Predictable -- Businesses need to be able to rely on a stable, predictable tax structure to know how plan ahead to grow their business and create jobs.

Now that the topic of funding our Commonwealth is on the table again, Legislators should be reminded that there are good alternatives, such as “An Act to Invest in Our Community", already on the table (and which could have helped avoid the whole tech tax mess in the first place).

We have four questions for our Legislators:

1. Now that the Tech Tax is about to be repealed, what are you doing to make sure we adequately and responsibly invest in our Massachusetts communities and future economic strength?
2. It was unfair to target the tech industry; it’s also unfair that the poor pay more than the rich in MA! What are you doing to change our regressive taxes?
3. Will you support a modestly increased Income Tax, designed to protect the poor, middle-class and vulnerable (as in “An Act to Invest in Our Communities”)?
4. The legislature rejected the Governor’s proposal in the spring, with many legislators complaining of its complexity. “An Act to Invest in Our Communities” is much simpler. Will you push to bring it to a vote?

After the disappointing votes on this in the spring, we have no illusions that this legislature is going to increase the income tax, even if what’s right is also smart and fair. But they ought to be reminded of the road they’re not taking.

For your convenience, here’s a list of Legislators’ contact info, including a growing list of Legislators' twitter and facebook accounts: progma.us/MAlegislators