What does Massachusetts lieutenant governor Karyn Polito think of the ballot initiative that would repeal the law that granted driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants?
Not much.
A NewBostonPost reporter asked Polito what she thought of the initiative at an event in Plymouth on Tuesday morning.
Polito said she does not yet have an opinion on it.
“The governor spoke about the action that he did and I don’t know much about the ballot initiative, so I can’t provide any comment on that,” Polito told NewBostonPost on Tuesday, August 2.
The left-leaning Massachusetts Legislature passed H.4805 in June 2022, and enacted it by overriding Governor Charlie Baker’s veto of the bill. The bill provides illegal immigrants the opportunity to obtain a driver’s license in the Commonwealth starting in July 2023. It passed 119-36 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and 32-8 in the Massachusetts Senate. Thirteen Democrats in the state legislature opposed the bill: eight in the House and five in the Senate.
Baker has made his opposition to this proposal clear over the years.
“I don’t support driver’s licenses for people who are undocumented,” Baker said during a 2014 GBH debate. “And the main reason for that is no one’s ever been able to explain to me how you can actually document and verify someone who is undocumented.”
An organization called Fair and Secure Massachusetts is leading a veto referendum to try to repeal the law.
The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office states: “A referendum petition is a way for people to propose repealing a law enacted by the Legislature and [is] voted on in statewide general elections. Referendum petitions to repeal a law are filed with the Secretary of State’s Office 30 days after the law is enacted.”
For the question to make it onto the statewide ballot, supporters will need to collect 40,120 certified signatures of registered voters by August 24, 2022. Milford Republican state committeewoman Maureen Maloney previously told NewBostonPost that to be safe, supporters are aiming to obtain 60,000 signatures.
A recent UMass Amherst poll found that 46 percent of Bay Staters oppose giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants while 40 percent support the idea.
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