Conservative activists in Massachusetts may have gathered enough signatures to get their measure repealing a new law that makes roads safer onto this November’s ballot. Republicans, angered over the state legislature opening the opportunity to get driver’s licenses to undocumented residents this past June, have gathered more than 50,000 signatures, which, if found to be valid, are more than enough to secure a spot on the ballot.
GBH News reported last week that they had gathered more than 40,100 signatures and were continuing their effort right up until the deadline this week. “We need about 20,000 more to feel as though we can finish this confidently, because what lies ahead of us are challenges both from the Secretary of State's office in terms of form, and from the organized opposition,” Fair and Secure Massachusetts administrator Wendy Wakeman told the outlet at that time.
Funny that efforts to keep the law in place are being labeled as “organized opposition,” when Fair and Secure Massachusetts was created with a specific goal of repealing this law with backing from influential state Republicans, Boston Globe reported in June.
RELATED STORY: In attacking new driver's license law, Massachusetts Republicans want to make roads less safe
Secretary of State William Galvin now must verify the signatures, which could take a week. The Boston Globe reported in June that some state Republicans felt the effort to get a repeal on the ballot was “far-fetched,” citing lack of financial resources, need for volunteers, and the relatively short time frame until November.
“All the same, the GOP-driven effort to repeal the law offers an important lesson: Never underestimate the powerful emotional appeal of a political campaign rooted in misconceptions and flat-out lies about immigrants,” columnist Marcela García now notes. GOP Gov. Charlie Baker himself pushed debunked voter fraud claims in vetoing the Work and Mobility Act in May, which lawmakers were thankfully able to override.
“When other states passed similar laws, research found an overall positive impact on the state economy and public safety,” García said. “For instance, a 2020 study showed that ‘both the number of drivers on the road increases as does the number of insured drivers.’” The bill doesn’t even go into effect until next summer, yet the process that led to the creation of the repeal-pushing Fair and Secure Massachusetts group was just about instantaneous.
García said opponents have been pushing all sorts of lies about immigrants being criminals and moochers. “But the biggest piece of misinformation of the proponents’ campaign is about voting.”
“The immediate pitch that we all know about is that as soon as someone gets a driver’s license, they’re automatically registered to vote by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and that’s absolutely not true,” Democratic Sen. James Eldridge told García. But these kinds of lies, especially when they’re centered around immigrants and brown and Black people, can stick. Just yesterday we noted how sizable numbers of Americans believe outright lies connecting migrants to fentanyl deaths, a lie eagerly, relentlessly promoted by national Republicans who have no actual policy solutions to problems facing the nation.
”The poll suggests that the reach of some false and misleading claims may be growing,” NPR reported. “Four years ago, NPR asked if ‘immigrants are more likely to commit crimes or be incarcerated than the U.S.-born population.’ Back then, more than 60% of respondents correctly identified that statement as false. But when asked again this year, only 49% got it right.”
“The good news is that nearly 60 percent of registered voters support keeping the new law, according to a July Globe poll,” García noted. In fact, support for the driver’s license law grew since May, when 46% of voters supported it. “Still, in the weeks leading up to Nov. 8, there will be a lot to say about whether undocumented immigrants should be licensed or not, including misinformation,” she continued.
“But we can’t have a meaningful debate if there isn’t consensus on what the facts are. And that should be the focus on the campaign to defend the law.”
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