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For Immediate Release
July, 12 2018, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Pam Wilmot, Common Cause Massachusetts (617)962-0034 or pwilmot@commoncause.org, Dianne Saenz, Common Cause, (202)736-5788 or dsaenz@commoncause.org
Massachusetts Legislature Passes Automatic Voter Registration
The Bay State is on its way to becoming the 14th state to adopt the innovative reform since 2015
WASHINGTON
Today, the Massachusetts legislature became the latest state to successfully pass legislation to enable automatic voter registration (AVR). The bill, passed by both houses of the state legislature, will now head to Governor Charlie Baker following several other procedural votes, which are expected next week. Once he receives the bill, Governor Baker has ten days to sign, veto, or amend the bill. The legislation would allow eligible voters to automatically register to vote when they interact with the Registry of Motor Vehicles or the state's MassHealth program, unless they choose to opt out.
Should Gov. Baker sign the bill, Massachusetts would the 14th state, plus the District of Columbia, to adopt AVR. Since 2015, states have passed or adopted similar measures that could add millions of eligible voters to the rolls include Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. AVR will also be on the November 2018 ballot in Nevada and possibly Michigan.
"Massachusetts is the latest of a growing number of states that have moved proactively to pass automatic voter registration measures to give more of their citizens a voice in selecting their representatives and the federal, state, and local level," said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. "Momentum continues to build in states from coast-to-coast to pass automatic voter registration measures in red and blue states alike. Common Cause members and staff have played key roles in moving these measures forward in numerous states, giving more Americans the chance to make their voices heard on Election Day and beyond."
Advocates and activists hailed the bill's passage as a positive step toward protecting access to the ballot, improving the accuracy of the voter rolls, and modernizing the state's elections infrastructure in the face of growing threats.
"Automatic voter registration will make Massachusetts elections more accurate, more secure and more participatory," said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts. "This legislation will involves more people in politics and enable them to hold their government accountable, and that's a win for everyone."
Massachusetts is one of a number of states where Common Cause has been working to advance automatic voter registration. Common Cause state offices are also leading AVR campaigns in New York, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Hawaii. In recent years, Common Cause has played a key role in passing or enacting AVR reforms in California, Oregon, Connecticut, Colorado, Rhode Island, Illinois Maryland, and Georgia.
To view this release online, click here.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
(202) 833-1200LATEST NEWS
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"This suffering is being manufactured by policy, not weather," said a humanitarian aid coordinator for Oxfam.
Dec 16, 2025
Makeshift tents billowing furiously in the wind. Children wading through ankle-high water. A young boy futilely beating back an oncoming wave with nothing but a broom.
These are just a few of the scenes that came out of Gaza in recent days as its population of nearly 2 million people was beset by heavy rainfall and punishing winds from Storm Byron, which hit late last week.
According to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Jerusalem, more than 1.3 million Palestinians in the territory are without proper shelter following more than two years of relentless Israeli bombing, which destroyed or damaged over 90% of housing units.
"The conditions are catastrophic, I must say," Jonathan Crickx, the chief of communication for the UN Children's Fund, told PBS News. "I've been in many, many tents in the past two days, and the tents are completely flooded. I met with tens of children. Their clothes are wet, the mattresses in the tents are completely soaked. And those children, they are cold."
At least three children, including two infants and a 9-year-old, died from hypothermia or cold exposure within a 24-hour period. Another five were crushed after a house sheltering displaced civilians collapsed due to the storm. As of Friday, at least 14 people were reported dead from the storm, and several more are injured, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security.
"Civilians are now wading through sewage, mud, and debris, with no proper shelter," said Bushra Khalidi, the policy lead for Oxfam in the occupied Palestinian territories. "This is not a failure of preparedness or capacity; it's the direct result of the systematic obstruction of aid."
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Under the terms of the "ceasefire" agreement signed between Israel and Hamas in October, Israel was required to allow more than 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza each day. But according to UN data published earlier this month, just 113 trucks per day on average have been allowed to enter the strip, less than a fifth of the agreed-upon amount.
The Rafah crossing, the largest entry point for aid, still remains almost totally closed after being opened briefly during the first week of the ceasefire. Israel said earlier this month that it may soon reopen the crossing, but only to allow for the exit of Palestinians.
"Without question, the Israelis and their persistent bureaucracy have prevented us from bringing in the necessary shelter that would provide adequate dwellings for the people living in Gaza," said Chris McIntosh, Oxfam's humanitarian response adviser in the territory.
In the crowded coastal area of al-Mawasi, he said, some residents have been left with little to protect themselves from the elements but blankets and flimsy tarpaulin.
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Official estimates put the death toll in Gaza at more than 70,600 since October 7, 2023, including more than 300 who have been killed during the ceasefire period across hundreds of attacks by Israel in violation of the agreement. But other independent studies, which take indirect effects of the genocide, like malnutrition and disease, into account, place the death toll much higher.
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"Trump may give himself an A++++ on the economy, but these latest jobs numbers are failing working families."
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The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, up from 4.4% in September, according to the Labor Department report, whose release was delayed due to the recent government shutdown.
US employers added 64,000 jobs last month following the loss of 105,000 jobs in October, fueled by the Trump administration's large-scale layoffs of federal workers. The manufacturing sector, which Trump has promised to bolster with his tariff regime, shed 5,000 jobs in November, according to the newly published federal data.
Over the past six months, the US has averaged just 17,000 jobs added per month—a number that underscored concerns about the frailty of Trump's economy.
"Today’s long-awaited jobs report confirms what we already suspected: Trump’s economy is stalling out and American workers are paying the price," said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative. "Far from sparking a manufacturing renaissance, Trump’s reckless trade agenda is bleeding working-class jobs, forcing layoffs, and raising prices for businesses and consumers alike. Trump may give himself an A++++ on the economy, but these latest jobs numbers are failing working families.”
Another notable trend in today's payroll release is the gradual slowdown in nominal wage growth. As the unemployment rate rises, workers struggle to find jobs and have less leverage when it comes to demand higher wages. Both indicate a slowdown in affordability for workers and their families.
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— Elise Gould (@elisegould.bsky.social) Dec 16, 2025 at 10:17 AM
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Julie Su, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and former acting head of the Labor Department, said Tuesday that "for months, Donald Trump and his administration have been hiding data about the economy, leaving workers and employers in the dark when trying to make critical hiring decisions."
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Writing in The New York Times on Monday, Grandin argued that the Trump administration seems determined to throw out the US-led international order that has been in place since World War II.
In its place, Grandin said, is "a vision of the world carved up into garrisoned spheres of competing influence," in which the US has undisputed control over the Western Hemisphere.
As evidence, he pointed to the Trump White House's recently published National Security Strategy that called for reviving the so-called Monroe Doctrine that in the past was used to justify US imperial aggression throughout Latin America, and that the Trump administration is using to justify its own military adventures in the region.
Among other things, Grandin said that the Trump administration has been carrying out military strikes against purported drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, and has also been "meddling in the internal politics of Brazil, Argentina, and Honduras, issuing scattershot threats against Colombia and Mexico, menacing Cuba and Nicaragua, increasing its influence over the Panama Canal, and seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela."
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Citing past statements and actions by the British Empire, Imperial Japan, and Nazi Germany, Grandin argued that "as the world marched into a second global war, many of its belligerents did so citing the Monroe Doctrine."
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