Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Tuesday she supports expanding the state’s public records law and Election Day voter registration, so people can register and vote at poll sites.
Both of those questions will be put to voters this November — two of nine ballot initiatives asking voters to weigh in on everything from firearms regulations to unionization for public defenders to state tax revenue caps.
Asked by GBH’s Boston Public Radio host Jim Braude about whether Campbell supports Election Day voter registration, Campbell affirmed she does.
“Yeah, I’ve actually been on the record before on that one,” she said Tuesday. “I haven’t taken positions yet — and I may or may not — on all of the ballot questions. But when I was on the [Boston] City Council, obviously, some of these issues appeared then. So there was expansion of public records requests, same-day voter registration — I supported in the past and I have not changed.”
Question 1 would make more records public at the State House and the governor’s office. Some documents would still be kept private, such as lawmakers’ emails where they’re developing their policy stances and communications with constituents about services.
Such a change would disrupt the commonwealth’s status quo: Massachusetts is the only state where the executive, legislative and judiciary branches all claim exemption from public records laws.
Gov. Maura Healey has said she would vote “yes” to open up more records, and state Auditor Diana DiZoglio is campaigning for its passage while her audit of the Legislature stalls. In anticipation of this ballot question, lawmakers in the state Senateand House of Representatives have put forward bills that would expand public records access in different ways.
Voter registration on Election Day — which will be “Question 4” on the ballot — would change the current requirement that any eligible resident must register to vote at least 10 days before the election. Question 4, supported by the state’s Democratic Party and opposed by the MassGOP, would take effect in 2028. A major proponent is the state’s election administrator, Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin.
Voters will have the chance to weigh in on these questions during the general election on Nov. 3.
