2020 Massachusetts elections

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2020 Massachusetts general election
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2020 United States elections

The 2020 Massachusetts general election was held on November 3, 2020, throughout Massachusetts. Primary elections were held on September 1, 2020. [1] [2]

Contents

At the federal level, all nine seats in the United States House of Representatives were contested. Also contested was the United States Senate seat held by Ed Markey. [3]

At the state level, all seats in the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature) were contested.

To vote by mail, registered Massachusetts voters had to request a ballot by October 30, 2020. [4] As of early October, some 504,043 voters had requested mail ballots. [5] [6]

Federal offices

Early voting polling place in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, October 2020 2020 Cambridge Massachusetts October.png
Early voting polling place in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, October 2020

U.S. President

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

State offices

General Court

All seats in the State legislature, the General Court, were up for election.

Ballot measures

Two ballot measures appeared on the 2020 ballot. Question 1 was concerned with access to an automobile's Mechanical data. It would force all automakers starting with model year 2022 to release all relevant mechanical data for any automobile sold in the state. Question 2 would establish a ranked choice voting system for most state and federal primaries and general elections. [7] [8]

As of April 2020, four measures (19-06, 19-10, 19-11, and 19-14) had achieved the required number of initial signatures and were pending in the Massachusetts General Court. The measures could be passed by the legislature before May 5, 2020, or if that failed to happen, petitioners were required to collect an additional 13,347 signatures in support of each measure to be placed on the ballot. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of social distancing on in-person signature collection, a lawsuit to allow for electronic signatures in support of ballot initiatives was raised with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. [9] In late April, a court judgement to allow for electronic signatures was agreed to by Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin and supporters of the four measures. [10] In early July, supporters of two of the four measures (19-06 and 19-10) announced that they had submitted a sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. Galvin certified both measures to appear on the 2020 ballot. [11] [12]

No.ResultDescriptionYesNoCit.
Votes%Votes%
1 YesThis proposed law would require that motor vehicle owners and independent repair facilities be provided with expanded access to mechanical data related to vehicle maintenance and repair. [13]
2 NoEnacts Ranked-choice voting for state and federal elections other than president.

Several measures were not certified to circulate because they went against Massachusetts law on ballot measures. Others were cleared for circulation but did not collect enough initial signatures for the December 4, 2019 deadline. [14]

Despite reaching a sufficient number of signatures in the first round, supporters of two measures (19-11 and 19-14) failed to collect the necessary number of signatures in the second round. By early July both initiatives had "effectively dropped their 2020 efforts". [15]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "2020 Massachusetts State Primary and State Election Schedule" (PDF). Secretary of the Commonwealth Elections Division. April 17, 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020– via MA.us.
  2. ↑ "Mass. 2020 Primary: What To Know About Voting By Mail Or At The Polls". www.wbur.org. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  3. ↑ McGrane, Victoria (June 21, 2020). "Meet Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy, now more woke" . The Boston Globe . Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  4. ↑ Lily Hay Newman (August 27, 2020), "How to Vote by Mail and Make Sure It Counts", Wired , archived from the original on October 6, 2020
  5. ↑ Michael P. McDonald, "2020 General Election Early Vote Statistics", U.S. Elections Project, retrieved October 10, 2020, Detailed state statistics
  6. ↑ Mail-In Ballots Continue To Be Popular Across Massachusetts, Cbslocal.com, October 9, 2020
  7. ↑ "Auto Repair, Ranked-Choice Voting Questions Cleared for November Ballot". www.wbur.org. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Two ballot questions approved for fall elections in Massachusetts". WWLP. July 14, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Mass. High Court Rules For Plaintiff Signature Collectors In Ballot Access Case". www.wbur.org. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  10. ↑ Lisinski, Chris (April 30, 2020). "Accord clears way for e-signatures on ballot questions". WWLP . Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Auto Repair, Ranked-Choice Voting Questions Cleared for November Ballot". www.wbur.org. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Two ballot questions approved for fall elections in Massachusetts". WWLP. July 14, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "Current petitions filed". Mass.gov. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  15. ↑ DeCosta-Klipa, Nik (July 2, 2020). "Two proposed Massachusetts ballot questions bite the dust amid pandemic". Boston.com . Retrieved July 2, 2020.

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