| Republican Scott Brown's campaign for U.S. Senate has hit upon a new strategy: lock voters in by getting as many of them as possible to vote absentee -- and by encouraging them to get their friends to do the same. This is a screenshot from his website (click for larger image):
Emails sent out by the campaign urge the same course of action. They include the following graphic, which if clicked directs you to the page linked above:
Looks like a clever strategy. You get people locked in before they change their mind, or forget to show up on election day. But you'd never know from Brown's website or emails that, actually, you can't vote absentee in Massachusetts unless you are unable to vote in person on election day.
And that's the problem with Brown's strategy: it's illegal. Meet me on the flip.
Massachusetts law is quite clear on this point: you may only vote absentee if you cannot vote in person on election day. From the Massachusetts Constitution:
The general court shall have power to provide by law for voting, in the choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question submitted at an election, by qualified voters of the commonwealth who, at the time of such an election, are absent from the city or town of which they are inhabitants or are unable by reason of physical disability to cast their votes in person at the polling places or who hold religious beliefs in conflict with the act of voting on the day on which such an election is to be held.
Accordingly, the statute governing absentee voting reads:
Any voter who during the hours that polling places are open on the day of a special state election or the biennial state election or of any special or regular state primary or of a presidential primary is absent from the city or town where he is a voter by reason of being a specially qualified voter as defined in section one of chapter fifty, or his employment in another community, attendance at any institution of higher education or for any other reason or who will be unable to by reason of physical disability to cast his vote in person at the polling place or who for reasons of religious belief will be unable to cast his vote in person on the day of an election and whose application for an official absent voting ballot has been filed with the city or town clerk as provided in section eighty-nine, and certified under section ninety-one, may vote [absentee].
All seems pretty clear. But just to make certain, I called the Secretary of State's Office, and spoke to their press guy, Brian McNiff. He confirmed for me that in order to be eligible to vote absentee, you must have a good faith belief that you would be unable to vote in person on election day.
The rules are even spelled out on the absentee voter application (PDF):
This application is for use by:
• A registered voter who will be unable to vote at the polls on election day due to:
(1) absence from your city or town during normal polling hours; or
(2) physical disability preventing you from going to the polling place; or
(3) religious belief
And it goes on state:
Warning: Illegal absentee voting, including making a false application, is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to five years in prison.
Oof.
Now, the Brownies might argue that it's not their job to ensure that voters comply with election laws, and that they expect voters to read and abide by the restrictions in the absentee voter application. But that's clearly not good enough. None of the exhortations on Brown's website or in his emails even mention that you're ineligible to vote absentee unless you're unable to vote in person on election day. To the contrary, a reasonable reading of Brown's materials is that -- as the website itself says (emphasis mine) -- "As a supporter of Scott Brown, you don't have to wait until January 19th to vote for Scott Brown. You can Vote Absentee, and, you can recruit fellow supporters to request the Absentee application." Not a word about being physically unable to vote in person.
So we have a couple of issues here. First, Scott Brown appears to be actively encouraging illegal absentee voting, and asking his supporters to do the same. We expect that, of course, he will cease and desist from these nefarious activities. Second, what about supporters of his who may already have unwittingly sent in illegal absentee ballots? Maybe Brown should post a statement on his website and send out a mass email to his supporters apologizing for advocating illegal absentee voting, and asking anyone who voted absentee but who in fact would be able to vote in person on election day to go ask their local clerk's offices to tear up the absentee ballots. I'm not sure exactly how that works, but there must be a suitable remedy.
Finally, it of course cannot go unmentioned that Scott Brown has led the charge against perceived problems of voter fraud here in Massachusetts.
But proponents of a tighter voter ID law said yesterday they feel emboldened by the Supreme Court ruling [upholding certain voter ID requirements] and plan to resurrect the statewide legislation next session.
They say it only makes common sense to ask all voters to show ID at the polls.
"People have to show an ID to buy cigarettes or rent a video," said state Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, who has tried repeatedly to persuade the Legislature to support statewide voter identification. "We are trying to protect the integrity of the system."
Ah, yes. The "integrity of the system." Here's a suggestion, Scott: why don't you stop undermining the voting rules we already have before trying to impose new ones? That might do something for "the integrity of the system."
And here's a footnote: I actually support "no excuse" absentee voting as a way of encouraging more people to vote. But the laws are the laws, and right now, the laws don't allow it. |
