WOBURN -- Calling it an "invitation for fraud from a state political party that practically invented the word," Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons on Thursday ripped Beacon Hill Democrats for advancing legislation that would make pandemic-era practices like universal mail-in voting and the usage of streetside ballot drop boxes permanent.
"We're at about 650 days since the public was last allowed to enter the State House, and the Democrats in the Legislature are predictably milking COVID-19 for every last advantageous drop," Lyons said. "There should be nothing standing between a voter's ballot and a ballot machine.
"Breaking that chain of custody is an open invitation for fraud."
Lyons pointed out that provisions in the legislation like the usage of drop boxes effectively legalizes the controversial practice of ballot harvesting, where political activists go door-to-door soliciting votes before dropping off stacks of completed ballots at various deposit locations, including public drop boxes.
"We saw this nightmare scenario play out in the 2018 midterms in North Carolina when an operative abused the practice," Lyons said. "Thankfully, that time it was caught but it resulted in a rescheduled election and the next time an individual doing this might not get caught.
"Democrats are playing with fire by seeking to make this disastrous policy permanent here in Massachusetts. We shouldn't be making it easier to cheat. We should be making it harder."
"We still have no way of gauging the new policy's legitimacy, yet the Democrats want to make these practices permanent," Lyons said. "The Legislature is working feverishly to extend and make permanent policies that they haven't even bothered to adequately evaluate."
