Are non-citizens who obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses registered to vote?

BOSTON (WWLP) – Senator Peter Durant is calling for state officials to release voting registration data.

Senator Peter Durant requested that Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin release voter registration data on Wednesday since the implementation of the Work and Family Mobility Act last July. Senator Durant says the Act allowing non-citizens to obtain driver’s licenses fuels his concern that the RMV is registering non-residents to vote.

Senator Durant told 22News that these numbers could help determine whether the RMV is registering people to vote who may not be eligible, “If every year 100,000 new people vote on average, and we see 150,000 this year, that’s statistically important. Well, I don’t know what they have to hide. We’re not looking for individual names, we’re just looking for statistics.”

Secretary Galvin says that individual voter information can be found at any clerk’s office and that information should clear up any concerns that non-citizens have registered to vote.

Secretary Galvin said, “So, the theory that somehow magically people that are non-citizens are coming to the registry of motor vehicles is not true. He’s looking to try to find some validation for his conspiracy theories, and, you know, we don’t do that.”

Secretary Galvin added that if Senator Durant has concerns that a specific citizen has fraudulently registered to vote his office would be very interested in investigating that claim. Senator Durant made a similar request for voter registration data last year but the request was denied.

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