It's that time of year, my friend!
The back-to-school shelves are emptying, the streets are lined with election yard signs and dotted with yellow school buses, and perhaps you’ve even had your door knocked by a candidate for elected office — I sure have! And these are all sure signs of one thing: primary election day is right around the corner!
The primary election is just 10 days away, one week from Tuesday, and today is the last day to register to vote and update your registration in order to vote in the September 3rd primary.
CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS >>
Today also marks the first day of early voting. Check your city or town clerk’s website to find times and locations for early voting if you’re unable to get to the polls on Tuesday, September 3rd.
If you’d prefer to vote by mail, you can apply online or download an application. If you’ve already applied, your ballot may have already arrived or should be arriving shortly. Once you’ve received your ballot, you can either return it via mail or take it to a dropbox. You can track your mail-in ballot here.
And finally, if you’re planning to vote on election day, polls will be open from 7AM - 8PM on Tuesday, September 3rd. Check your voter registration to see your polling place as well as what’s on your ballot.
CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS >>
And if you live in Waltham, Cambridge, or Lowell, you may have the exquisite opportunity to vote for one of our endorsed candidates. If you see Heather May, Evan MacKay, or Tara Hong on your ballot, you get to vote for a true transparency champion for the state house!
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State House Scoop
Shelter system to run out of funding by January 1st
We knew it was being hundreds of millions of dollars underfunded, but new information this week indicates that the state’s emergency shelter system will run out of money by January 1st. And while finding funding is an obvious roadblock, there’s an even more threatening obstacle: any additional shelter funding will need approval from the state legislature.
That’s right, for a legislature that’s loath to do, well, anything, it’s going to be a hefty lift to inject more funding into the shelter system before the existing funding runs dry. Further complicating matters, the legislature has adjourned formal sessions for the rest of the calendar year, meaning that in order to pass another funding bill, they’d need the political will to call a special session and come back to work. While it’s not unheard of, special sessions are rare, especially when there’s not much political capital for our elected officials to gain from it.
What’s unfortunately more likely to happen is our legislative leaders — House Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka — will point fingers literally everywhere besides themselves as to who should be responsible for the funding gap. They’ll continue to blame the federal government for lack of funding and support. They’ll continue to blame the Governor’s office for not cutting spending drastically. Heck, they’ll probably even find a way to blame Republicans in the state and claim they’re the bottleneck.
But the reality is this: it’s still August 2024 and we know today that emergency shelter funding will run dry by the end of the year. Mariano and Spilka have the explicit authority and ability to call a special session and pass more funding at any point between now and the end of the year.
So let’s get on their backs about it early, because something tells me we’re going to have to make a bigger stink than ever to compel our Democratic supermajority government to pass funding to keep our most vulnerable neighbors sheltered throughout the winter.
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Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.
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Syd’s Sprinkles: Graveyard of the 193rd Session — Safe Communities Act
Now that our legislature is through with major business for the rest of the year, it’s time to take a look back through the 193rd legislative session to acknowledge some of the popular progressive bills that died, yet again.
The Safe Communities Act (SCA) – which was first filed in 2013 – would have provided stability to families by:
- preventing local and state law enforcement from working with ICE through contracts at the expense of taxpayers
- prohibit state and local involvement in immigration enforcement
- protects people of color from racial profiling by law enforcement
For example, if an individual is pulled over by a police officer for a traffic violation, the police would not be able to ask about the individual’s immigration status under the Safe Communities Act.
Despite overwhelming support from more than one hundred organizations, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, and dozens of legislators, this bill has died yet again in the House Ways + Means committee. While this bill was heavily touted as necessary during the Trump administration’s cruel anti-immigration era, these provisions would prove just as powerful in today’s context.
The Plymouth County Correctional Facility is the only facility in the state that holds federal immigration detainees and has been called out by various human rights groups for cruel treatment toward its detainees, including unsanitary conditions, unfair treatments, restricted access to legal aid, uncooked food, and more. As of this month, the facility is looking to extend its contract with federal officials, despite the unsanitary and abusive conditions, and increase the unit’s capacity despite already being full.
With the SCA, contracts with ICE like Plymouth County Correctional Facility would be prohibited and units like Plymouth’s, where immigrants face harsh conditions and rights violations would be closed. With the closing of these units, there would be less pressure for law enforcement to fill them in ways that harm connections with communities, and instead free up resources that could be used to the benefit of Bay Staters. Gee, wouldn’t that be humane and responsible!
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ICYMI: State House 101 Teach-In Recording
Earlier this week, we hosted another teach-in with our endorsed candidate Evan MacKay to talk all things State House 101. If you weren’t able to join, fear not! You can now watch the recording of the event on your own time. The passcode to watch the recording is: j=BUq9*k
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Act on Mass endorses Yes on 5!
Did you know that tipped workers in Massachusetts — your favorite neighborhood barista, or the server at your local eatery — make just $6.75 an hour? That’s right, despite the statewide minimum wage being $15, there is a separate minimum wage for tipped workers that’s less than half the statewide minimum. It’s no wonder that restaurant workers have the highest rate of poverty in any industry. We know that paying all workers a full minimum wage with tips on top is the fair thing to do. That’s why Act on Mass is proud to endorse the Yes on 5 campaign for One Fair Wage for tipped workers!
Passing Yes on 5 would:
⬆️ Raise wages incrementally for tipped workers from $6.75 to $15 dollars an hour over the span of five years
🤝 Allow restaurants and bars the option of including all non-management workers in the tip pool once the full $15/hour is reached
💰 Ensure that employers pay tipped workers the full minimum wage and that your tips are no longer subsidizing wages
The separate tipped minimum wage is a relic of slavery; after Emancipation, the restaurant industry sought to hire newly freed Black people without paying them, forcing them to live on tips. This concept was made law, excluding a workforce of mostly Black women, from the full minimum wage as part of the New Deal in the 1930s. Today, that burden is still carried overwhelmingly by women and particularly women of color, who continue to receive subminimum wages over a century later.
The November election will be a big one across the ballot — from the Presidential election all the way down to the five ballot questions Massachusetts voters will have this year, the stakes of voting are as high as ever. That’s why we’re encouraging you to vote Yes on 5 this November.
Take Action
Support our endorsed candidates!
**Support our endorsed candidates!**Our endorsed candidates need our help to reach as many voters as possible over the final 10 days leading up to the election. Sign up to get involved with their campaigns by knocking doors and making phone calls!
Volunteer with Tara in Lowell >>
Volunteer with Evan in Cambridge >>
Volunteer with Heather in Waltham >>
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It can sometimes feel hopeless going up against the political machine, but in a mere 10 days we get the chance to make a real, impactful change at the ballot box. Especially if you're not in a district where one of our transparency champions is running, now is the most important time to get involved in a campaign to change the status quo on Beacon Hill.
See you on the doors!
- Brenna
Brenna Ransden (she/her)
Acting Executive Director, Act on Mass