Bill > S373

This bill aims to modernize voter registration and jury pool lists by creating a public website where Massachusetts residents can verify their voter registration status, including their ward, precinct, voting location, and party affiliation, with the State Secretary responsible for its creation and maintenance. It also changes certain mandatory "shall" requirements to permissive "may" in laws related to voter registration and jury selection, allowing for more flexibility. Crucially, after January 1, 2017, the bill eliminates the use of the annual listing of residents for maintaining inactive voter lists and for selecting jurors, requiring the State Secretary and the commissioner to develop alternative methods for these purposes by the same date. To facilitate this, state agencies, cities, towns, and educational institutions will be required to provide electronic data, including personal information like name, address, race, gender, social security number, and date of birth, to create these new alternative lists, with strict confidentiality requirements for this data.