HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3998 FILED ON: 2/19/2021
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 787
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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House of Representatives, |
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)
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Ordered, If the General Court proposes a law to allow for mail-in voting and an expansion of absentee voting laws in the Commonwealth, the General court shall follow the Constitutional Amendment process as laid out by Article XLVIII Section IV “Legislative Action on Proposed Constitutional Amendments” to Amend the Constitution, to allow for such a piece of proposed legislation to be within the limits set by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Whereas, The Secretary of the State of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the 2020 general election took action as directed by the General Court to amend voting laws in the Commonwealth, superseding the limits placed upon how citizens of the Commonwealth may vote, if unable to make it to their specified polling place, on election day as laid out in Article CV, Article XLV of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Whereas, Article CV, Article XLV of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts states that “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.”
Whereas, the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth distributed mail-in ballot requests to all registered voters in the Commonwealth, regardless of whether they were “absent from the city or town of which they are inhabitant or are unable by reason of physical disability to cast their votes in person at the polling places.”
Whereas, the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth and members of the General Court have filed legislation during the 192nd Session of the General Court which would expand the voting procedures in this Commonwealth to unconstitutionally allow for mail-in voting which is prohibited by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Resolved, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts deliberately vests the General Court with specific and limited powers to make changes only to absentee voting pursuant to Article CV, Article XLV.
Resolved, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not vest the General Court or any other officer of the Commonwealth with the power to enact laws which allow citizens to vote from anywhere but their specified polling place, unless the citizen falls under the provisions listed in Article CV, Article XLV of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Resolved, any legislation proposed to allow for mail-in voting in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is prohibited by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.