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Massachusetts No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment (2024)
| Massachusetts No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Voting policy measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024.
The initiative would have amended the Massachusetts Constitution to authorize the state legislature to provide by law for no-excuse absentee voting.[1][2]
Text of measure
Ballot summary
The final ballot summary for the initiative was as follows.[3]
| “ | This proposed constitutional amendment would repeal the provision authorizing the Legislature to permit absentee voting only for reasons of absence, physical disability, or religious conflict and would give the Legislature the power to make laws governing voting by qualified voters.[4] | ” |
Full text
- The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Massachusetts, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot equal 3 percent of votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. No more than one-quarter of the verified signatures on any petition can come from a single county. Signatures must be submitted to the secretary of the commonwealth by the first Wednesday in December in the year that is at least two years before the year of the targeted election date. Massachusetts is unique among states with a process for initiated constitutional amendments because state law requires that any proposed initiative with enough valid signatures be approved by one-quarter of state legislators in a joint hearing—with senators and representatives voting together—in two successive sessions for the initiative to be certified for the ballot.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2024 ballot:
- Valid signatures required: 74,574 valid signatures
- Deadline (2024 petitions): The deadline to submit signatures for consideration by the legislature in 2022 and 2023 sessions was December 1, 2021.
- Deadline (2024 petitions): The deadline to submit signatures for consideration by the legislature in 2023 and 2024 sessions was December 7, 2022.
If enough signatures are submitted by the deadline, the initiative goes to the legislature, where it must garner the approval of 25 percent of all lawmakers, with senators and representatives voting jointly, in two successive sessions. If this requirement is met, the initiative goes on the ballot at the next general election. Because of this unique requirement, the earliest an initiated constitutional amendment can reach the ballot is two years following signature submission. And, depending on the year, it can be three years after signature submission before voters decide on the measure.
Details about this initiative
- The initiative was filed by Michael D’Ortenzio Jr. on August 4, 2021.[2]
- On September 1, 2021, the attorney general cleared the initiative for signature gathering.[3]
- The campaign did not file signatures on December 1, 2021.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, "Full text," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, "List of petitions," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Massachusetts Attorney General, "Final Summary," September 1, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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