****Gov. Patrick to Sign Early Voting Bill****

[MADem]

http://www.wggb.com/2014/05/22/gov-patrick-to-sign-early-voting-bill/

BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick is preparing to sign a bill that would allow early voting up to 11 days before Election Day, making Massachusetts the 33rd state to allow early voting.

The bill would also allow online voter registration and let 16- and 17-year-olds pre-register to vote.

A final compromise version of the bill has been approved by the Massachusetts House and Senate and shipped to Patrick for his signature.

The legislation would also create an online portal to check voter registration status and allow postelection audits of randomly selected precincts after presidential elections.

[Little Star]

1. Nice! Glad to hear it......

I especially like the online voter registration part, says this grandmother of five.

[1dogleft]

2. on line voting

is what could work

[merrily]

3. For a blue state, MA lagged on this.

Also used to be unnecessarily difficult here to obtain an absentee ballot on a recurring basis because of illness. Had to apply every year and get a new doctor's letter every year, even if the last letter said you were permanently disabled. Thank goodness, that is no longer the case.

[MADem]

4. Well, his predecessor was Mittsy.

There was a LOT wrong with MA when Deval moved into the corner office.

Hell, it took forever for people to get used to being "allowed" to use the public elevator that Mittsy expropriated for his exclusive and personal use!!!! That weirdo has a thing about elevators...his car elevator, his line item veto of better elevators for the disabled, and the one he swiped from We The People...

...when he was Governor of Massachusetts. In particular, Romney — like many Republicans — was hostile to requirements for elevators imposed by the Americans Disabilities Act (ADA). In two items flagged by a Democratic operative, Romney vetoed legislation that would have improved elevators for the disabled.
On June 26, 2006 Romney vetoed an improvement project with the price tag of $40,000 with his line item veto. The project would have allocated the money to Woburn Development Authority for improvements to an elevator to meet the standards set in the ADA.
Also on that day Romney vetoed an additional $25,000 to the Braintree, Massachusetts Council on Aging. The money was again proposed to meet improvements with the ADA.
Romney justified the cuts saying the programs along with others he vetoed “would be nice to have, but which we cannot justify paying for out of rainy day funds. A smaller number of these projects are just pure pork.”
As Governor, Romney kept a private elevator in the statehouse locked exclusively for his personal use. The elevator became a symbol of his distance from the press and the state legislature, as veteran lawmakers complained about a lack of access to the Governor. After Romney finished his term, the elevator was reopened.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/mitt-romney-vetoed-human-elevator-bill#2fr0xat

[merrily]

5. Patrick=Gov for almost 8 years. And the Democratic legislature

legislature had the ability easily to override any veto of Romney's and often did, when they chose.

[MADem]

6. Well, it's done now, so that's one less thing to complain about. nt

[merrily]

7. Never complained. Since you raised the subject, though, I simply

commented for the first time that Massachusetts was late coming to this for a blue state. Too bad you saw that as a complaint.

Did fight about the absentee ballots to the City of Boston and the Secretary of State, though, on behalf of the wife of a man in a nurse home, who had given up because she was tired of fighting. Got a run around at first, but I persisted. I do know that Boston will now send out the ballots to everyone without a new doctor's letter every year.

Don't know if my efforts helped or not. Don't know if that was complaining or activism. I only tried to help someone who was beaten down by a combination of her age, her circumstances and the system.

[MADem]

8. I wasn't speaking about you--that was a generic comment. nt

[merrily]

9. LOL!

[MADem]

10. Glad you're amused. Have a nice day. nt

[merrily]

11. Thanks. I will, barring the unforeseen. You have one, too.