A coalition that features former gubernatorial candidate and Harvard professor Danielle Allen is staffing up in an try to area a poll query in the course of the 2026 election that might ask voters to approve a brand new preliminary election system and sign-off on marketing campaign finance reforms.
The transfer by the Coalition for Wholesome Democracy, which Allen serves as a senior advisor to, is its second try at advancing an election reform poll query after it briefly floated, raised cash for, and filed paperwork for 5 separate measures forward of the 2024 election.
In a job posting reviewed by the Herald, the coalition requires a marketing campaign supervisor to guide the “building phase” of a 2026 poll query that implements a nonpartisan preliminary election over the state’s partisan primaries and reform marketing campaign finance to finish “the influence of foreign governments in our election.”
“You will take the helm of a campaign at a time when there is building momentum for democracy renovation in Massachusetts. You will report to the Coalition Cabinet, including its ex officio members, committee chair, John Griffin, and senior advisor, Danielle Allen,” the posting stated, referring to Allen’s colleague at her agency, Companions in Democracy.
In an interview with the Herald Thursday morning, Griffin stated the coalition is in an “exploratory phase” for the 2 insurance policies described within the job posting, each of which have been a part of the poll query push upfront of the 2024 election.
“The real thing that we’re doing now is just trying to conduct this exploratory phase, determine what the next steps are, and make those decisions about whether and when to go forward with the attorney general, with the submission phase,” Griffin stated.
A nonpartisan preliminary election, or high 5 election, in response to Griffin, is just like a system in place in Alaska, the place each candidate that runs for a specific workplace is on the preliminary poll no matter their celebration.
Griffin stated Massachusetts voters would decide one candidate and the highest 5 with essentially the most votes transfer ahead to the final election, which is then determined by ranked-choice voting.
“It’s an election reform that’s meant to put more choice on the ballot in the November elections when people come out to vote,” he stated.
The marketing campaign finance reform the coalition is eyeing is just like the language they backed in 2024. The proposal would bar firms which have “beyond a certain amount” of overseas funding or possession from taking part in elections in the USA, Griffin stated.
“Foreign entities aren’t allowed to participate in elections, and this closes a loophole by which they’re currently able to do that through their influence in U.S. companies,” he stated. “… It’s also similar to a law that’s in place in another state. This one is in Minnesota.”
The coalition has introduced on two well-known political operatives in Massachusetts — former chief of employees to Gov. Deval Patrick and founding accomplice at Northwind Methods Doug Rubin and Brian Wynne, former marketing campaign supervisor and senior political advisor to Gov. Charlie Baker, in response to the job posting.
The marketing campaign supervisor could be accountable for fundraising, authorized drafting, strategic planning, information and analysis, public training and communication, signature assortment, voter identification, and hiring finance and area administrators, in response to the posting.
The coalition is providing to pay the marketing campaign supervisor between $150,000 to $175,000 for somebody to begin on the 2026 marketing campaign instantly, in response to the posting.
“This position will run through May 2025, with the possibility of renewable through November 2026,” the job itemizing stated.
The coalition first appeared in July 2023, when Griffin and Anna Fletcher, the previous finance director at Companions in Democracy, filed paperwork with state marketing campaign finance regulators to again efforts to enact same-day voter registration, a “top five electoral system” for federal and state places of work, and limiting the affect of overseas cash within the state.
Allen, who ran for governor as a Democrat in 2022 however dropped out of the race months earlier than the election, contributed $50,000 of her personal wealth and $30,000 from her state marketing campaign account to the coalition, in response to state filings.
However solely one of many 5 poll questions the coalition supported that allowed for same-day voter registration was accredited by Legal professional Basic Andrea Campbell’s workplace.
Griffin stated the coalition didn’t acquire signatures for the query after it obtained Campbell’s sign-off.
“We want to move forward with a package here that gets to this core principle of increasing voice, choice, and fairness,” he instructed the Herald. “The top five initiative, I think, is pretty central there. And so based on the decision that we got back in 2024, we decided to regroup and come back again in 2026.”
The 2026 election and marketing campaign finance reform push from the coalition is the third poll query effort to floor for a contest that’s nonetheless two years away.
Massachusetts Republicans have been having conversations over the summer time about advancing a poll query that might try to codify into state legislation a sequence of restrictions Gov. Maura Healey positioned on the emergency shelter system housing locals and migrant households.
Native voters are additionally in line to face a query in the course of the subsequent election cycle asking them to repeal a brand new gun legislation heralded by Beacon Hill Democrats after Second Modification advocates collected greater than 90,000 signatures.
Griffin stated the coalition is beginning two years earlier than the election to find out the very best poll query language and whether or not there may be “public appetite.”
“Whether or not to move forward is the point here, and we want to have a seasoned campaign manager to be leading that work. So that’s the reason for having a campaign manager on hand at this early point,” he stated.
