High Court Shoots Down GOP Challenge To Expanded Mail-In Voting

MASSACHUSETTS — The Supreme Court voted Monday that Gov. Charlie Baker's VOTESAct is in fact constitutional after it received pushback from Republican lawmakers who tried to shoot it down last week.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed the VOTES Act into law in June, making vote-by-mail permanent, expanding early in-person voting options, and extending access to the ballot for eligible incarcerated residents. Last Wednesday, Republicans voiced their opposition to this new law and challenged it in Massachusetts' highest court.

More than 4.7 million ballot applications will be sent to voters by July 23 as the VOTESAct can officially go into play.

This law will increase ballot access for voters with disabilities, and incarcerated individuals - but many Republican lawmakers argue that there is no longer a need for mail-in ballots as COVID-19 restrictions continue to ease, as the measure was only supposed to be temporary.

Republican lawmakers argued that voters should only seek a mail ballot if they meet one of the exemptions that would keep them from being able to vote in person.

34 other states join Massachusetts in offering a "no-excuse" needed mail-in, drop-off voting.

Lawyers for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin argue that the new remains appropriate stating that "nothing in the Complaint demonstrates that the Legislature acted irrationally by implementing these reforms, notwithstanding Plaintiffs' repeated attempts to mischaracterize what the law, in fact, requires," in a legal brief obtained by AP.