Promoting and Protecting the Right to Vote

Jamie believes that having the opportunity to vote for our representatives in office is a right, and not a privilege - which means that our Commonwealth should do everything it can to promote and protect citizens’ right to vote. He supports electoral reform legislation to eliminate voter participation barriers and ensure that all elections are conducted fairly.

This year, he’s proud to be the lead sponsor on the Massachusetts Freedom to Vote Act, which would comprehensively and fundamentally update and improve voting in Massachusetts. If enacted, this would give Massachusetts some of the strongest voting laws anywhere in the United States — fitting for the birthplace of American democracy. Provisions included in this omnibus bill include Election Day Registration, Early Voting, improvements in the absentee ballot process for members of the military, and measures to simplify the Election Day process

Jamie is also a co-sponsor of the National Popular Vote (NPV) bill, to ensure that all votes are given equal weight in Presidential elections, and he worked hard to pass the bill in the House last session. He supported the Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights to ensure that voters clearly understand their voting rights in simple language.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Election Laws for six years, Jamie lead the fight in the House of Representative with State Representative Gloria Fox (D-Boston) to pass Same-Day Election Registration (”EDR”), and will continue to work to pass the bill as a State Senator.  Jamie believes that EDR is a civil rights issue, because every citizen that is not able to vote on Election Day weakens democracy and waters down the influence of elected officials.