Issues and Action

Empowering Voters Project: Posting the MA Voters' Bill of Rights
Contact League of Women Voters for more information

The League of Women Voters will file legislation to require the Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights be posted in every polling place in the state. Voters should have easy access to the Voters’ Bill of Rights so they can protect their rights at the polls.

The Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights is a compilation of voters’ rights in a simple, easy-to-read and understandable format.

See the following page for a copy of the Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights.

The legislation will amend current law (Chapter 54: Section 48 Information to Voters) by adding this paragraph:

The state secretary in state elections, city clerks in city elections, and town clerks in town elections at which official ballots are used, shall, for every such election, prepare and cause to be printed a poster at least 18” x 24” with large clear type of the Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights to be posted in every voting precinct in the state.

Highlights

• Developed by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts in 2004, the Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights was signed by Governor Mitt Romney and Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin and endorsed by the state Legislature.

• Although not mandated by law, Secretary Galvin asked all local election officials to post a copy of the Voters’ Bill of Rights in every polling place for the November 2004 election.

• Voters should have easy access to the Voters’ Bill of Rights so they can protect their rights at the polls. Posting the Voters’ Bill of Rights at the polls should not be dependent on the commitment of future secretaries.

• Currently six states (California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota and Nevada) have laws requiring the posting of a Voters’ Bill of Rights in every polling place.