Below is my testimony before the Joint Committee on Election Laws. You have until 5pm 3pm today to provide written testimony to the committee for the bills in their recent hearing. Voter Choice Massachusetts has a page you can use to send testimony in support of RCV. If you wish to email your own testimony, email colleen.bellotti@mahouse.gov, bridgette.maynard@masenate.gov and mark.sternman@masenate.gov. You are welcome to use my testimony as a template or copy it (mostly) wholesale.
Thank you to the Chairs and members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws for reading my testimony. I speak to you as Chair of the Massachusetts Pirate Party and as a citizen of our Commonwealth.
Before you are a series of bills that would open up elections in Massachusetts by either giving people more choice in elections or allow more people a voice in elections.
Bills such as H.711 / S.433 would allow municipalities the option to use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). RCV would ensure that candidates win by a majority. Ranked Choice Voting will eliminate the need for preliminary elections, saving cities needed money in reduced ballot printing costs and election administrative expenses. RCV is a voting system successfully used by other advanced democracies such as Ireland and Australia. It is already in use by two cities in the Commonwealth.
These bills would simplify the pathway for these communities to adopt Ranked Choice Voting, and clear up any uncertainty for municipalities in this process. Supporting these bills does not mean you support Ranked Choice Voting. It shows you favor giving cities and towns increased freedom to choose the voting method that suits its needs without creating a burden on the legislature.
Several towns and cities have filed home rule petitions to adopt Ranked Choice Voting. These municipalities did not adopt this change lightly, but after an open review and consultation process. I urge you to approve them and encourage their approval by the entire legislature.
You also have before you bills that would extend voting rights in municipal elections to immigrants with permanent residence status (H.671 / H.706 / S.415) and that would grant municipalities the authority to extend voting rights in municipal elections to city residents who are 16 and 17 years old (H.3742 / S.429 / H.3576). This nation was founded on a call of no taxation without representation. Permanent residents and older teens already pay taxes and deserve the right to vote in municipal elections. I urge you to support these bills and usher their passage through the legislature.
I hope we can rely on the Committee’s leadership to advance these bills in the 2023-2024 session, giving cities and towns, and an increased number of their residents, a pathway towards more local control over their elections and government.
Sincerely,
James O’Keefe
Chair, Massachusetts Pirate Party
masspirates.org
jokeefe@jamesokeefe.org
617-447-0210
Below is my testimony before the Joint Committee on Election Laws. You have until
5pm3pm today to provide written testimony to the committee for the bills in their recent hearing. Voter Choice Massachusetts has a page you can use to send testimony in support of RCV. If you wish to email your own testimony, email colleen.bellotti@mahouse.gov, bridgette.maynard@masenate.gov and mark.sternman@masenate.gov. You are welcome to use my testimony as a template or copy it (mostly) wholesale.Thank you to the Chairs and members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws for reading my testimony. I speak to you as Chair of the Massachusetts Pirate Party and as a citizen of our Commonwealth.
Before you are a series of bills that would open up elections in Massachusetts by either giving people more choice in elections or allow more people a voice in elections.
Bills such as H.711 / S.433 would allow municipalities the option to use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). RCV would ensure that candidates win by a majority. Ranked Choice Voting will eliminate the need for preliminary elections, saving cities needed money in reduced ballot printing costs and election administrative expenses. RCV is a voting system successfully used by other advanced democracies such as Ireland and Australia. It is already in use by two cities in the Commonwealth.
These bills would simplify the pathway for these communities to adopt Ranked Choice Voting, and clear up any uncertainty for municipalities in this process. Supporting these bills does not mean you support Ranked Choice Voting. It shows you favor giving cities and towns increased freedom to choose the voting method that suits its needs without creating a burden on the legislature.
Several towns and cities have filed home rule petitions to adopt Ranked Choice Voting. These municipalities did not adopt this change lightly, but after an open review and consultation process. I urge you to approve them and encourage their approval by the entire legislature.
You also have before you bills that would extend voting rights in municipal elections to immigrants with permanent residence status (H.671 / H.706 / S.415) and that would grant municipalities the authority to extend voting rights in municipal elections to city residents who are 16 and 17 years old (H.3742 / S.429 / H.3576). This nation was founded on a call of no taxation without representation. Permanent residents and older teens already pay taxes and deserve the right to vote in municipal elections. I urge you to support these bills and usher their passage through the legislature.
I hope we can rely on the Committee’s leadership to advance these bills in the 2023-2024 session, giving cities and towns, and an increased number of their residents, a pathway towards more local control over their elections and government.
Sincerely,
James O’Keefe
Chair, Massachusetts Pirate Party
masspirates.org
jokeefe@jamesokeefe.org
617-447-0210