A record-breaking turnout is expected Tuesday, with a huge chunk of the ballots already cast in Massachusetts.
Governor Charlie Baker said he mailed in his ballot already. He's among the more than 1.25 million voters to do so in Massachusetts — where voters have until Tuesday to get their ballot postmarked.
Voting by mail has been a source of contention and legal challenges in other states. Matt Murphy of the State House News Service joins us to talk about the week ahead, and whether voting methods are likely to be an issue in Massachusetts as well.
Matt Murphy, State House News Service: No, the issue counting past the election date has not really come up as a big problem here in Massachusetts. It hasn't found its way into the courts, as we've seen in some other states.
If you get your ballot postmarked by Election Day, it can be counted up until Friday at 5 p.m., if it arrives in the local clerk's office.
But now Secretary of State Galvin, and local clerks, urge people at this point probably not to roll the dice, given some of the delays we've seen in the U.S. Postal Service.
It's best now to have your ballot at home, and go to one of the local drop box locations that your town has been required to set up. When you show up at town hall, you turn it in in person if you want to be sure that your ballot gets counted.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: On Governor Baker's ballot — I gather we still don't know if he left that president section blank — he has said he would not vote for President Trump. Last week, he came out against ranked-choice voting. That's the subject of one of two statewide ballot questions. In the past, the legislature tinkered with these laws, ballot questions, after they pass. Should we expect the same this time around?
It's entirely possible, especially given these two ballot questions.
One, the ranked-choice question: The governor has his concerns. We assume that he voted against that, given that he came out in opposition. But the other question, the governor has not weighed in on. This is the so-called "right to repair" ballot question, about giving access to computer telematic data that your car produces to local auto repair mechanics so they can compete, they say, with dealerships.
The last time this came up as an issue, and was headed to the ballot, the legislature actually passed a law before the election to deal with this. It's a very complicated issue.
And I would say that it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that,should this pass at the ballot box, lawmakers will take a close look at the way this was written, and see if it needs to be improved, corrected, or if there's any changes they want to make at the legislative level.
The number of communities considered high risk for the spread of COVID-19 is on the rise. But at the same time, the Baker administration keeps pushing to get kids back inside school buildings. How is this argument going, and what kind of data are they using to make that case?
Yes, sometimes it's hard to square these two things in your mind, but we've seen this come up even in other countries putting in new restrictions.
The Baker administration continues to insist that schools are not where this is spreading. And they're newly publishing cluster data that shows, really, the vast majority — over 80% of the spread of this virus — appears to be happening in the home setting.
Of the cases the state is seeing in school, they believe is largely being brought into the school system from homes where people are contracting it. They're not seeing the spread happening in classrooms, in school buildings, which is why you're hearing the continued push to keep people in the classroom.
There are people concerned about returning to school buildings. We know that, especially in districts where a lot of the building and facilities are older, ventilation systems may be poor. Unions are concerned about their workers, their teachers. This continues to be a point of tension in this push to get children and faculty back into the school building.
But for now, in-person learning the administration believes is vital to student learning. And they would like to see it continue to happen, even as they see this rise in cases.
