2020 Massachusetts general election

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

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

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 is 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 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]

Number	Initiative title	Description	Text	Website	Status
Question 1	Initiative Law to Enhance, Update and Protect the 2013 Motor Vehicle Right to Repair Law [13]	This 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.	Text	Link	Approved
Question 2	Initiative Petition for a Law to Implement Ranked-Choice Voting in Elections	Enacts Ranked-choice voting for state and federal elections other than president.	Text	Link	Rejected

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

• Political parties and political designations in Massachusetts
  • Massachusetts Democratic Party
  • Massachusetts Republican Party
  • Green Rainbow Party
  • Massachusetts Libertarian Party

References

1. "2020 Massachusetts State Primary and State Election Schedule" (PDF). Secretary of the Commonwealth Elections Division. April 17, 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. • Callum Borchers (September 14, 2020), "A 'Right To Repair' Sequel: Mass. Ballot Question 1, Explained", Wbur.org (includes video)
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.

Further reading

• Chris Lisinski (June 6, 2020), "Incumbents to cruise, again, in coming election", Commonwealthmagazine.org, Two-thirds of lawmakers face no challengers at all
• Christian M. Wade (August 29, 2020), "Baker-tied PAC spending on Democrats", Salemnews.com
• Stephanie Ebbert (August 29, 2020), "Primary challengers, newcomers looking for ticket to Beacon Hill on Tuesday", Boston Globe
• Katie Lannan; Chris Lisinski (September 2, 2020), "Sen. Welch, Rep. Nangle lose state legislative seats", Boston Globe, Challengers defeated incumbents in key Democratic primaries, reshaping Beacon Hill
• John Hilliard (September 2, 2020), "Candidates around the state aim to build a more diverse Legislature", Boston Globe
• "'I Am Very Concerned About November': Galvin Says Help Needed To Handle Presidential Election Turnout", Cbslocal.com, September 2, 2020
• Nick Corasaniti; Stephanie Saul (September 3, 2020), "A smooth Massachusetts election could also be a cautionary tale", New York Times
• Lisa Creamer; Wilder Fleming (September 22, 2020), "Your Guide To Voting In The 2020 Election, From Mail-In Ballots To Hitting The Polls", WBUR News
• Matt Stout (September 29, 2020), "Massachusetts rejected nearly 18,000 primary ballots amid surge of mail-in voting", Bostonglobe.com
• Matt Stout (October 4, 2020), "Under new law, even death can't stop some Massachusetts voters this election", Bostonglobe.com
• "More than 1.6 million people have requested mail-in ballots. Mass. is 'hopeful' they'll arrive this week", Bostonglobe.com, October 5, 2020
• Matt Stout (October 8, 2020), "Hundreds of Mass. voters, or more, received mail-in ballots with the wrong deadlines", Bostonglobe.com

External links

• Ballotpedia. Massachusetts elections, 2020.
• "Democratic Candidates for Nomination", 2020 State Primary Candidates, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• "Republican Candidates for Nomination", 2020 State Primary Candidates, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• "Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus Political Action Committee Endorsed Candidates", Mwpc.org, 2020
• "Massachusetts", VOTE411 Voter Guide: Races, Washington DC: E.thePeople
• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Massachusetts", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "League of Women Voters of Massachusetts". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• "State Elections Legislation Database", Ncsl.org, Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Legislatures, State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year, 2020