Galvin agrees to produce legally mandated report on voting in jail

In response to a lawsuit filed in the state’s highest court, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin this week agreed to complete legal reporting on prison voting after two state elections went unsupervised, advocates said.

“This is a victory for voting rights and for incarcerated voters across Massachusetts,” Brock Simon, an attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights and the lead attorney on the case, said in a statement. “The reports will show whether state and local officials are providing ballot access to those who are incarcerated, as the Massachusetts Legislature intended.”

Nearly 9,000 prisoners in Massachusetts are eligible to vote, according to the Campaign Legal Center. After the Voting Act was signed into law in 2022 by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, the law required Secretary Bill Galvin’s office to issue reports after each statewide election.

The law requires Galvin to “issue public reports after each statewide election detailing the number of eligible incarcerated voters in the commonwealth, the number of voters who requested to vote by mail or absentee ballots, and whether they were actually able to vote,” the complaint said. The Secretary’s Office has six months to comply.

However, Galvin’s office failed to file any reports within six months of the elections on September 3, 2024 and November 5, 2025, CLC reported. The non-partisan Center filed an order with the Supreme Judicial Court last month, which was resolved earlier this week.

In a statement, Galvin’s office blamed the delay on “technical issues.”

“Getting an assurance from the secretary that he will make changes going forward is one of the most important parts of this agreement,” said petitioner Justin “Rico” Rodriguez, who was recently released from MCI-Norfolk. “The upcoming midterm elections will be critical for eligible incarcerated voters.”

Debra O’Malley, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of the Commonwealth, said the Judicial Council signed a negotiated settlement agreement. She said the report “will include detailed statistical information about the number of eligible voters who were incarcerated in 2024, and the number of potential voters who cast ballots.”

“Our office strives to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote has the opportunity to cast a ballot, including those who are incarcerated, and retain their rights,” O’Malley said in an email. “We are pleased to have been able to explain to plaintiffs the technical issues that caused the delay in publishing the report.”

The secretary also agreed to implement improvements to the office’s existing data collection and analysis processes ahead of the Sept. 1 statewide primary, CLC said.

“We need to know how many people are trying to vote in September and November, and how many are successful,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “We also need to know how many people didn’t make it and why, so we can address everything that needs to be addressed and so that all voices are heard and represented equally.”

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime and more.