Judge Sides With ACLU In Mass. Voter Registration Case

Three people who missed the state's voter registration deadline will be allowed to cast provisional ballots on Election Day.

A judge ruled in favor of the three plaintiffs on Monday in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

The ACLU argued that the state's current voter registration deadline — 20 days before Election Day — was arbitrary and outdated, especially with the state's new early voting program.

"Legislature has not weighed the burden of the twenty-day deadline in nearly 20 years, despite the obvious advances in information technology, other changes in resources and practices, and even statutory authorizations that have affected whatever arguments may have favored that deadline in 1997," a motion from the ACLU read.

The ACLU pointed out that the registration cutoff for the Nov. 8 election was Oct. 19 — just five days before early voting started.

Monday's decision doesn't apply to anyone other than the three plaintiffs named in the ACLU's lawsuit, though the ACLU says its goal is to get the court to declare the existing 20-day deadline unconstitutional.