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March 19, 2008

Mass. bill would ban sex offenders from voting near kids

BOSTON. -- A House member from Cape Cod urged his Beacon Hill colleagues today to support a bill banning the worst sex offenders from voting in schools or libraries, places where they could easily encounter children.

Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, D-Barnstable, said Level 3 sex offenders -- those considered at high risk of offending again -- should instead vote by absentee ballot to prevent a security lapse giving them unfettered access to boys and girls.

"If someone has to use a bathroom, there's an excuse to go down the hallway, and potentially, something can happen," Atsalis told his fellow members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws.

He added: "This is a bill where the Legislature is doing what doesn't happen too often: It's being proactive instead of reactive. We shouldn't wait until something happens. We should do this today so something never happens."

In late January, a Level 3 sex offender was charged with raping a 6-year-old boy in the New Bedford Public Library. Corey Saunders, 26, allegedly lured the boy into the magazine stacks as his mother worked on a computer just feet away.

A representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said the voting measure is unconstitutional and impractical.

Gavi Wolfe, an ACLU legislative specialist, told the committee the constitution allows for absentee ballots only in cases of sickness or out-of-town travel. "This proposal does not fit within that framework," Wolfe said.

In addition, defining how people can vote threatens a fundamental right in a democracy, he said.

"We should not be in the business of carving that right, slicing and dicing it so some people can do it one way and other people do it another way," Wolfe said.

Wolfe also questioned how election officials would enforce such a law, since in most cases, would-be voters are already in their polling place when they check-in and receive a ballot.

-- The Associated Press

While most voting occurs in schools, some also takes place in other public buildings such as town halls, libraries and community centers.

Under existing law, police chiefs in all 351 cities and towns must "detail a sufficient number of police officers or constables for each polling place at every election therein to preserve order and to protect the election officers and supervisors from any interference with their duties."

Nonetheless, Atsalis said there's often "chaos" in polling places, which could create opportunity for a sex offender.

Convicted felons are not allowed to vote while they are in prison, but they regain that right after they are released.

Massachusetts elections are overseen by Secretary of State William F. Galvin and conducted primarily by city and town clerks.

A Galvin spokesman, Brian McNiff, had no comment on the proposal other than to say, "That's a matter for the Legislature."

Posted by Mike McKinney at 4:45 PM | Permalink

March 19, 2008

Mass. bill would ban sex offenders from voting near kids

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