The Massachusetts Senate has adopted an amendment filed by Senator Cindy Creem in their FY25 budget aimed at making voting more accessible by eliminating the penalty for voters who do not return the municipal census. A similar amendment garnered 81 cosponsors in the House budget but was ultimately not included. The reform is now under consideration by the House and Senate budget conference committee.
Currently, voters who fail to respond to the annual municipal census are placed on the inactive voter list, requiring them to provide proof of residency and fill out an affidavit form to restore their status and cast a valid ballot. Massachusetts remains one of the few states that imposes such a penalty. The proposed Senate budget language seeks to abolish this penalty while ensuring clean voter rolls through methods used by other states.
The Election Modernization Coalition released a statement: “Our coalition is encouraged to see the legislature considering such an important reform that would remove an unnecessary barrier to voting. Massachusetts is one of the only states that disenfranchises voters in an effort to compel residents to fill out the annual municipal census. There are more efficient ways to keep our voter rolls up-to-date which many other states use without issues. If the legislature wants to make our democracy more accessible in Massachusetts, they must send this reform to the Governor’s desk.”
Advocates argue that relying on the annual street list, or municipal census, is ineffective for maintaining accurate voter rolls. They suggest Massachusetts should implement a system that accurately identifies if a voter moves or dies without disenfranchising households over unreturned mail.
