To the Editor:

Many voters in the 12th Suffolk district (15 pMany voters in the 12th Suffolk district (15 precincts in Mattapan and Dorchester) may have been surprised to see a fifth question on the ballot election day! This was the non-binding ballot question aimed at getting corporate and billionaire money out of politics by restoring the rights of government to limit spending to influence elections. Despite the lack of publicity, 66 percent of voters cast ballots for Question 5, and 66 percent of these voted “Yes” in support of the question.

So how did Question 5 appear on their ballot? Local volunteers from Dorchester People for Peace (DPP) gathered enough signatures last summer to get the question submitted by Move to Amend on the ballot. Volunteers also distributed literature and spoke with voters at the September primary and at polling places on Nov. 4. DPP volunteers reported that most voters seemed well prepared for the four statewide ballot questions, but were unaware of Question 5. However, most voters we spoke with agreed with the ballot question and many thanked us for alerting them to the question and the opportunity to vote for it.

In 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission (FEC), that restrictions on corporate spending in political campaigns were unconstitutional under the First Amendment. In other words: Corporations are people and political spending is free speech. This decision overturned much of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform law. The Citizens United decision expanded the doctrine of “corporate rights” and has resulted in a flood of corporate and billionaire money into independent election campaigns. Almost immediately, bipartisan citizen groups started fighting this decision.

In last week’s election, citizens in 18 of the Commonwealth’s 160 state representative districts had the Democracy Amendment on their ballots. In every district, citizens voted overwhelmingly for their legislators to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the high court’s ruling and declare that only human beings – not corporations – are entitled to constitutional rights, that money is not speech and that campaign spending can be regulated. These 18 districts joined 30 other representative districts and six state Senate districts that had approved the Democracy Amendment in 2012. Moreover, many cities and towns in at least fifteen other states across the country have voted for the question.

The next step is to have the Massachusetts Legislature call on Congress to propose an amendment to the US Constitution that would (1) affirm that constitutional rights are for human individuals only, not corporate entities, and (2) affirm that money is not free speech protected by the First Amendment and spending in elections shall be regulated by Congress and the states. For more information on how to get involved, check out the Move to Amend website. The local Move to Amend chapter has committed staff that will conduct dynamic workshops for groups or organizations who want to learn more about the movement to regulate the way corporations now dominate politics and political spending.

Alison Gottlieb
Dorchester