Was Mail in Voting Constitutional After All?

Stoneham MA

08 December, 2020

11:26 AM

Description

For Immediate Release: Please Contact: Anthony Conte at [email protected] Boston, Massachusetts - Yesterday five former Republican candidates, spearheaded by 6th District Congressional candidate John Paul Moran, filed suit in Federal District Court alleging that the Massachusetts legislature usurped the Massachusetts and US Constitution when it to passed a law that allowed no excuse mail-in voting in Massachusetts in violation of an explicit state constitutional provision that strictly limits the times when voting may take place other than at the polls on Election Day. Congressional candidates Helen Brady and Caroline Colarusso joined Moran, along with state legislative candidates Craig Valdez and Ingrid Centurion, in the federal court filing." In addition to the constitutional violations our suit has to do with putting a huge spotlight on the security failures with respect to universal mail in voting in the Commonwealth among other things," said Moran. The suit asserts that the Massachusetts legislature and Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin used the COVID-19 health crisis to unconstitutionally change voting state voting laws. "Our elected officials illegally used the pandemic as an excuse to overstep their authority by expanding absentee voting to anyone for any reason, allowing the mailing of millions of ballot applications to an outdated list of voters, including many voters who were either not properly registered, have since moved out of state or have passed away". said Moran. Caroline Colarusso described the legislative action as, "An enormous overreach in the birthplace of freedom home to the oldest surviving constitution in the United States. If the constitutional process becomes a mere suggestion it will become nonexistent and open the door to future massive changes that will adversely impact our citizens. The legislature was well aware of the constitutional limits on voting other than at the polls would require a constitutional amendment to change. In 2019, thirteen Democrat State Representatives unsuccessfully petitioned their fellow lawmakers to amend our constitution to provide no excuse absentee voting. This shows that lawmakers knew that a constitutional amendment is required to authorize the legislature to allow no excuse absentee voting, even during a pandemic." Helen Brady stated, "This suit is more about ensuring the integrity of the electoral process and compelling the legislature to keep its oath of office to support and defend our Constitution than it is about changing election outcomes." Ingrid Centurion, an Iraq War veteran who ran for State Representative said, "Legitimate concerns were raised about the legality of the vote by mail program, the verifying of signatures, the examination of machines that can be programmed, and the failure to maintain updated voter rolls as required under the law. All the candidates believe that elections in the United States must be held with the highest level of integrity and transparency. We have grave concerns that Secretary of State Galvin was ill-equipped to ensure that the mail-in voting that he and our legislators endorsed, does not pass constitutional muster.