Top Beacon Hill Democrats’ willingness to leave the door open to tinkering with ballot questions after voters approve them on Election Day amounts to “voter suppression,” State Auditor Diana DiZoglio said at a rally in Quincy Saturday.
Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano did not shoot down the possibility when asked late last month if they would change a question removing the MCAS graduation requirement or DiZoglio’s effort to give her office the explicit authority to crack open the books of the Legislature.
DiZoglio said their comments were a “backhanded attempt at voter suppression.”
“They’re trying to discourage people from voting their conscience by telling them that their vote doesn’t matter, essentially, that they’re just going to ignore the will of the people anyways, and it’s unacceptable,” she told the Herald. “We are going to continue to fight hard and to remind people that their vote matters.”
Mariano did not directly say last month if he would repeal or amend DiZoglio’s ballot question if it becomes law.
“We’ll see. We’ll see how big the margin is,” he said.
Spilka said that lawmakers would need to “see what course it takes.”
DiZoglio said she spoke with Gov. Maura Healey about “how I will 100% be calling for a veto on any attempts to overturn the will of the people on Question 1.”
“I hope it doesn’t get to that point. I hope that legislative leaders respect the will of the people of Massachusetts,” she said. “(Healey) told me, ‘okay, let’s stay in discussions.’”
But on the MCAS question, Mariano and Spilka were more clear on their distaste for getting rid of the graduation requirement.
Spilka said lawmakers would “have some discussions” if the question passes Tuesday.
“I am not in favor of getting rid of MCAS. I believe that it’s done, some assessment has done Massachusetts well,” Spilka said. “We will discuss.”
Mariano said “someone has to evaluate what we’re doing in our public school system.”
DiZoglio said residents in Massachusetts need to vote “their conscience on these issues.”
“We’re going to remind people that their vote matters and we’re going to keep fighting for what’s right,” she said.
Healey hits the campaign trail in Pennsylvania
Gov. Maura Healey has been racking up frequent flier miles and hotel points this election cycle.
The first-term governor of Massachusetts has lent her political weight to myriad Democratic candidates ahead of the Nov. 5 election and with only days to go before voters head to the polls, she decided to travel down to Pennsylvania for last-minute campaigning on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Healey is a super-surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign and her decision to spend Friday in the Keystone State shows Harris and Walz are looking for all the help they can get.
Healey and her partner Joanna Lydgate had three events on their schedule Friday, including a meet and greet with Harris campaign staff and volunteers in Allentown, an LGBTQ get-out-the-vote rally in Allentown, and a similar event in Philadelphia.
Healey, one of the first lesbian governors in the country, has been a key figure in LGBTQ political circles and it is no surprise the Harris campaign wanted the governor to speak at rallies on the issue.
Healey has also spent many days in New Hampshire campaigning on behalf of Joyce Craig, a Democrat running for governor against Kelly Ayotte, a Republican.
Seth Moulton backs psychedelics ballot question
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Salem Democrat and veteran, threw his support behind a ballot question that would decriminalize the use of psychedelics and allow people to grow them at home.
The question has drawn support from some veteran groups who argue the substances are effective in treating mental health issues like PTSD. It is backed by Massachusetts for Mental Health Options, which has raised nearly $6 million to advance the measure.
In an opinion piece published Thursday alongside state Rep. Shirley Arrigia, a Chicopee Democrat and veteran, said the ballot question “would introduce a new treatment that can make a difference in the lives of our fellow veterans, if not save them outright.”
In a statement provided by supporters of the policy, Moulton said the state should “move ahead with carefully increasing access to a treatment that can transform lives.”
“I am reassured that this provision does not endorse recreational use but instead establishes a process for writing regulations that balance access with protection. The mental health crisis is too acute to sit still,” Moulton said.
Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald
Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton, seen here at his home in Salem, supports a ballot question that would decriminalize the use of psychedelics. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
