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Legislature Passes Bill To Overhaul Massachusetts Voting Laws

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Early voting may be coming to Massachusetts.

Both the Massachusetts House and Senate have approved a bill to overhaul the state’s voting laws. It would allow on-line voter registration, pre-registration of 16- and 17- year olds, and voting up to 11 days before Election Day. Early voting is allowed in 32 states.  Under the bill it would begin in Massachusetts in 2016.  Pam Wilmot, of Common Cause Massachusetts, said advocates have been fighting for the reforms for decades.

" It is long overdue and well needed. It is a great victory.We're very excited."

Advocates did not get everything they wanted in the bill.  Election day voter registration was not included.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.