July 16, 2020—The Secretary of State has officially declared the right to repair question will appear on the Massachusetts ballot after vehicle manufacturers withdrew a legal challenge against it, according to an Auto Care Association press release.
According to the release, vehicle manufacturers submitted a legal challenge to the Massachusetts Ballot Commission on July 8, arguing that the Right to Repair Committee disobeyed signature-gathering requirements outlined by the Massachusetts Supreme Court by storing the signatures in a separate file and tracking personal data without notification.
However, after a candidate for Congress, Helen Brady, had her legal challenge approved after using the same signature-gathering vendor, vehicle manufacturers withdrew their challenge.
The Massachusetts Right to Repair Committee turned in 24,000 signatures on July 1 to the Secretary of State regarding the ballot question. The submission is more than the 13,374 signatures that are required by law to have a question placed on the ballot. While these signatures are usually collected manually, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Right to Repair Committee to seek a consent from the Massachusetts Supreme Court to permit the collection of signatures electronically.
