Common Cause Massachusetts pushes for voter rights

Common Cause Massachusetts, a nonprofit voter advocacy group and one of 35 state affiliates of Common Cause, is hoping that the early voting and online voter registration reforms that it has championed, and which have passed the state House and Senate, will be signed into law this year.

The group supports legislation seeking to expand opportunities to vote, make voter registration more efficient, convenient and accessible, and to better ensure the accuracy of election results.

Voters in 32 other states and the District of Columbia can participate in early voting which, according to Common Cause, increases the number of options voters have to cast a ballot. In 2012, approximately 32 million citizens cast early votes. The group believes that early voting benefits working people, families, election workers and commuters stuck in traffic.

In states where citizens are offered the option of registering on Election Day, voter turnout was on average 12 percent higher compared to states that did not. According to a 2012 study by the Pew Center, Election Day registration allows eligible voters greater flexibility in registering to vote and prevents disenfranchisement by helping election administrators maintain more accurate records. Election Day registration also greatly reduces the use of provisional ballots — a significant percentage of which go uncounted, according to the U.S. Election Administration Commission.

If all of these pro-voter acts were passed together, Massachusetts would become a beacon of voter rights reform, according to Common Cause Massachusetts.