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Settlement: Voter cards must be offered to welfare seekers

By AP | Last updated: Mar 25, 2015 - 9:48:12 AM

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BOSTON—Massachusetts residents applying for welfare must be offered voter registration cards and other information under a settlement reached between voting rights groups and the Baker administration.

The groups pushing for the settlement with the state Department of Transitional Assistance said Thursday that the agreement will bring Massachusetts into compliance with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which requires public assistance offices to offer voter registration services to eligible citizens.

The suit was filed in 2012.

The agreement, filed March 18 in U.S. District Court, requires the automatic distribution of voter registration applications to people applying for public assistance as well as to those renewing assistance benefits or changing their addresses.

It also requires the state to provide assistance in different languages to those completing voter registration applications and delivering the applications to local election officials.

The settlement calls for regular oversight and reporting to ensure state employees continue to provide the voter registration services.

A department spokeswoman said the agency has been working toward compliance during the past three years.

Both parties have jointly requested that the federal judge overseeing the case enter an order dismissing the claims against the department. The settlement becomes effective when that order is entered.

The agreement will be in force for three years.

Juan Cofield, president of the NAACP-New England Area Conference, called the settlement a victory for voting rights.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the DTA on matters that should guarantee free and equal access for voter registration to all citizens,” Cofield said.

The settlement was nearly completed under Gov. Deval Patrick before Charlie Baker succeeded him in January. The deal will help the state avoid having to send another round of letters to welfare recipients at an estimated cost of about $250,000.

“The administration is pleased this matter was settled appropriately,’’ said Elizabeth Guyton, press secretary for Baker, adding that the administration was able to work with the voting rights groups to reduce the cost of the settlement by 10 percent, or about $75,000.

Similar claims against MassHealth, the Executive Office and Health and Human Service, and State Secretary William Galvin’s office are still pending.

The case emerged as an issue during the 2012 U.S. Senate race between Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren when the state agreed to send out voter registration letters to nearly half a million welfare recipients as part of an interim agreement in the case. The letters cost about $276,000 to mail.

Lisa Danetz, legal director for Demos, a New York-based think tank that supported the suit, said the 2012 agreement to send out the notices didn’t end the dispute, but was an interim measure to help bolster the voting rights of welfare recipients.

Brown portrayed the decision as an attempt to give Democrats, including Warren, an advantage in the election. He called on Warren to reimburse the state for the cost of the mailing. Brown also pointed out at the time that Warren’s daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, sits on the board of Demos.

Warren’s campaign called Brown’s request a “ridiculous political stunt.” (AP)