Massachusetts Settles Lawsuit with Promise to Release Jail Voting Data
by Chuck Sharman
The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) of Massachusetts approved a settlement on March 9, 2026, resolving a lawsuit filed the month before by members of a nonprofit advocating for incarcerated voter rights and a pair of recently released state prisoners, who accused Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin of failing to collect and publish data on voting in state prisons and jails, as required by G.L. c. 54, § 25C(g).
Known as the Voting Opportunities, Trust, Equity, and Security (VOTES) Act, the 2022 law reduced restrictions on mail-in voting and expanded early voting, as well as lowering barriers to registration and voting while incarcerated. Massachusetts temporarily disenfranchises those convicted of felonies, but only until they are released or paroled. Misdemeanor convictions and civil commitments do not result in loss of voting rights, and anyone awaiting trial—like the majority of those held in jail—may still vote.
A key provision of the VOTES Act was a requirement that the Secretary collect and publish data on voting from jails and prisons within six months after any statewide election. “The reports will show whether State and local officials are providing access to the ballot box for those in jail, as the Massachusetts Legislature intended,” said attorney Brooke Simone, in a press release from Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), which represented Plaintiffs. But two statewide elections were conducted since the law was passed and Galvin “failed to file the mandated reports for either election,” the lawsuit claimed.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2026 by officials with the nonprofit Healing Our Land, Inc. (HOLI) and Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy (EDC), another nonprofit allied to address “systemic inequities affecting incarcerated individuals through civic engagement.” Also named as Plaintiffs were a pair of recently released state prisoners, Kadeem Foreman and Justin “Rico” Rodriguez, both of whom now advocate for expanded voting access for those behind bars who still retain their voting rights. In Massachusetts, that’s an estimated 9,000 people, the lawsuit said.
Plaintiffs requested a writ of mandamus from the SJC, which then oversaw the parties’ settlement negotiations and formalized their agreement with the Court’s order. Under its terms, Galvin’s office has until June 1, 2026, to publish SAVES Act data from the statewide elections that were conducted in September and November 2024. The Secretary also agreed to file progress updates by March 27, April 17 and May 22, with additional reports on efforts to comply with reporting from subsequent elections filed by July 1, September 1 and November 1, as well as January 1 and March 1, 2027. See: Hobbs v. Galvin, Mass. Supr. (Suffolk Cty.), Case No. SJ-2026-0053.
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Related legal case
Hobbs v. Galvin, Mass. Supr. (Suffolk Cty.)
| Year | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Cite | Case No. SJ-2026-0053 |
| Level | State Supreme Court |