Massachusetts high court hears GOP case challenging mail-in voting | Anthony Brooks/WBUR
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday heard arguments about a new law that allows anyone to vote by mail for any reason. The state Republican Party contends the law is unconstitutional and could encourage voter fraud. At issue is the VOTES Act, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker. The sweeping election law makes no-excuse mail-in voting permanent while expanding options to vote early, among a number of other changes. The MassGOP argues the state constitution only allows people to cast absentee ballots in certain circumstances. Michael Walsh, an attorney for the party, argued early voting should also be banned, even though the state has conducted it for the past eight years. “Decisions — no matter how wrong, how old or how bad — if they’re bad they deserve to be overturned,” Walsh said. Walsh argued that early voting and no-excuse mail-in voting make elections more susceptible to voter fraud, though he acknowledged there was no evidence to back that up. “We certainly didn’t say that in our complaint,” he told the justices.
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