Opponents of a new state law that would give immigrants without permanent legal status access to Massachusetts driver's licenses began gathering signatures Tuesday to place the possible repeal of that law on the ballot this November.
The committee backing the repeal push, Fair and Secure Massachusetts, began distributing signature sheets at noon at the Massachusetts Republican Party offices in Woburn, with additional events slated for Tewksbury, Westford, Agawam and possibly Buzzards Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday.
To place a question that could repeal the law on the ballot, advocates must submit at least 40,120 legitimate signatures to local officials for certification by 5 p.m. on Aug. 24, and then deliver them to the secretary of state's office by Sept. 7.
Obtaining that many signatures in that brief time will be a challenge for the law's opponents. But on Tuesday, as a steady stream of activists filed into the state GOP’s headquarters to pick up paperwork, two of the efforts’ leaders expressed confidence about their prospects.
"The outpouring of support that we are receiving ... for this is overwhelming," said Mass. GOP chair Jim Lyons. "You saw it today, people coming in and out of here at noontime.
"We think this gives us an opportunity to show what one-party rule does on Beacon Hill," Lyons added. "It completely ignores the will of the people."
In a new UMass Amherest / WCVB poll, 24% of respondents strongly supported the new law, compared to 34% who strongly opposed it. An additional 16% somewhat supported it, compared to 12% who somewhat opposed it.
Wendy Wakeman of Fair and Secure Massachusetts, the ballot committee pushing repeal, suggested that Republicans' failed efforts last year to place several other measures on the ballot had served, in effect, as training for the current effort.
Those attempts, which included a ballot question that would have created a new voter-ID requirement, required more than 80,000 signatures each under the state's arcane ballot-question process, a threshold activists were unable to meet.
"I think it was practice for this," Wakeman said. "I think the Democrats handed us a gift and said, 'Hey, we're going to pass this law that nobody likes.' ... It's only half as many signatures as we collected last time.
"This question energizes people, and it's going to lift the whole effort toward bringing Massachusetts some more conservative, rational thought," Wakeman added.
The new law, which is slated to take effect on July 1, 2023, would let immigrants without permanent legal status who can prove their identity and Massachusetts residence obtain licenses after meeting other requirements.
It became law after legislators overrode a veto by Gov. Charlie Baker. He has warned that because the state currently automatically registers driver’s license applicants to vote, the new law could lead to confusion about voter eligibility.
Supporters say that concern is unfounded. The law itself — officially dubbed An Act Relative to Work and Family Mobility — requires the Registry of Motor Vehicles to work with the secretary of state to prevent automatic registration of ineligible voters, but does not specify how that will be done.
Several other states have passed similar laws, including Connecticut, which saw a subsequent drop in hit-and-run crashes.
While proponents believe public safety will improve in Massachusetts once the new law is implement, Lyons scoffs at that idea.
"Just think about that argument," he said. "All of a sudden, people that are here illegally are now going to follow the rules of the road? The fact of the matter is, they're here illegally, they're violating our laws to get in here, and we're rewarding them for bad behavior."
A repeal supporter from Danvers named Charlotte, who asked that her last name not be used, offered a similar rationale for her opposition to the new law Tuesday after picking up a batch of signature sheets.
"Everybody has to come here the right way — to come here legally, as my grandparents did, be a useful citizen, get a job, and don't depend on the state for everything they have," she said. "I just think it's not fair."
Prior to the law's passage, its supporters cited the work done by many unauthorized immigrants providing essential services throughout the pandemic as an argument for its passage.
Also Tuesday, supporters of the law announced the formation of a new ballot commitee, Vote YES for Work and Family Mobility, which will work to prevent repeal.
The law "will make our roads safer, our communities more secure, our public-health policies stronger and our economy more vibrant," 32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President Roxana Rivera and Brazilian Worker Center Executive Director Lenita Reason said in a statement.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
