Voting Rights Advocates Sue Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth for Failing to Disclose Information on Jail-Based Voting
BOSTON — Today, voting rights and prisoners’ rights advocates filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts’ highest court seeking an order compelling Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin to release reports on jail-based voting, as required by a landmark state law enacted to expand voting rights protections. Since the enactment of the VOTES Act in 2022, Secretary Galvin has failed to file any reports on jail-based voting, shielding this data from disclosure and impeding public awareness. Without jail-based voting data, Massachusetts residents, community organizations, and the state legislature cannot hold public officials accountable for implementing the VOTES Act.
The complaint was filed against Secretary Galvin by Lawyers for Civil Rights and Campaign Legal Center, with pro bono support from Anderson & Kreiger and the Law Office of John Reinstein, on behalf of Franklin Hobbs, eleni kalfus, DeAnza Cook, Alan Tanner, Kadeem Foreman, and Justin “Rico” Rodriguez, highlighting that at any given time, up to 9,000 incarcerated citizens in Massachusetts are eligible to vote. These include people serving misdemeanor sentences, individuals awaiting trial, and those who are civilly committed. These individuals have the right to vote and should not be disenfranchised.
“This is an urgent moment to hold people in our democracy accountable,” petitioner Pastor Franklin Hobbs stated. “The jail voting provisions of the VOTES Act were written by and advocated for by incarcerated people, who are too often left out of the democratic process. This report is imperative to tell us where we are in the implementation process, so that we can improve it moving forward and take seriously voting access for this population.” Hobbs is the founder of Healing Our Land, Inc., which facilitates and supports voter registration initiatives in the Suffolk County House of Corrections and Nashua Street Jail.
Petitioner eleni kalfus, who works with the coalition Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy, regularly visits the two Boston jails to assist eligible incarcerated individuals to register to vote and apply for absentee ballots so they can participate in local, state, and federal elections. “When I go to the jails to talk to incarcerated voters, they tell me about the issues they’ve had when trying to vote,” said kalfus. “I want them to know we’re fighting for them and doing what we can to hold the state accountable.”
To ensure these voters are not excluded from the democratic process, the VOTES Act requires Secretary Galvin to submit public reports within six months of each statewide election detailing the number of eligible incarcerated voters and whether they were able to vote by mail or absentee ballot. Two statewide elections have occurred since the VOTES Act took effect — one seventeen months ago — yet no reports have been released by Secretary Galvin.
“These reports are crucial for transparency and accountability,” said Brooke Simone, an attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights. “The VOTES Act was designed to make sure that eligible voters in jail are not shut out of our democracy. When Secretary Galvin fails to release this data, it doesn’t just violate state law—it allows constitutional rights to be denied behind closed doors, with no public scrutiny or oversight.”
Petitioner Dr. DeAnza Cook, who teaches civic education classes to incarcerated individuals, shared that “incarcerated voters are part of our communities, our neighborhoods, and our democracy. When the state withholds basic information about their voting access, it sends a message about who is seen as belonging. We’re here to insist that they do belong.”
Petitioner Alan Tanner stated that “people’s voices need to be heard, and that can’t happen if information is being withheld. In order to empower people, we have to make sure there is transparency from our elected officials.”
The lawsuit was also brought by two individuals who were incarcerated at MCI-Norfolk, a state correctional facility, until late last month. Drawing on his firsthand experience in a correctional setting, Kadeem Foreman shared, “people inside are trying to stay connected to their communities. Voting is one of the few ways they can do that. If the state won’t even report whether those votes are possible, it tells you how little their connection is valued.”
Justin “Rico” Rodriguez shared, “my community has a long history of fighting for redress of the harms we’ve experienced when elected officials have failed us. This report is part of that fight, and I’m glad to be fighting for the people that I come from and the people that I love, including those still in prison who don't often get heard.”
The lawsuit asks the court to order Secretary Galvin to immediately issue the required reports and fulfill his statutory duty to ensure transparency and accountability in jail-based voting.
“We should be working to make our elections more inclusive and accessible, and that includes ensuring that reports on jail voting are filed as required by the VOTES Act,” stated Kate Uyeda, legal counsel for Campaign Legal Center. “These reports help ensure that fully eligible voters are not left out of the democratic process simply because they are detained during an election. We are asking the court to hold Secretary Galvin accountable and order him to issue the required reports.”
You can follow along with this case as it progresses with our case page here.
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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.
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