Massachusetts votes ‘yes’ on Question 1 ballot measure, Right-to-Repair Coalition declares victory
Massachusetts voters agree they have a “Right-to-Repair” — overwhelmingly voting to approve ballot Question 1, the coalition supporting the measure said while declaring an early victory on election night.
The measure’s success means car owners will be able to access and share repair data housed in their car’s telematics’ systems that were previously only accessible by automakers.
“The people have spoken — by a huge margin — in favor of immediately updating right to repair so it applies to today’s high-tech cars and trucks,” said Tommy Hickey, director of the Right to Repair Coalition, a group of 1,600 independent repair shops.
The Coalition for Safe and Secure Data, which represents 16 automakers and opposed the ballot measure, conceded on Tuesday.
“As we have said from the beginning, the right to repair and the ability of local repair shops to access vehicle repair information are already enshrined in Massachusetts law,” the group said in a statement. “Today’s vote will do nothing to enhance that right — it will only grant real time, two-way access to your vehicle and increase risk.”
Opponents of ballot Question 1 claimed making the data accessible to independent auto shops could make the public less safe by expanding the availability of car-repair data. The group claimed that data collected through telematics is not necessary to repair cars because it’s used for other things, such as turn-by-turn navigation and emergency crash notification.
Opponents warned a “yes on 1” vote would give hackers the ability to upload code to vehicles and could lead to malware and ransomware being uploaded to cars — something Hickey dismissed as a “scare tactic.”
The race was defined by historic spending where Yes on 1 was outspent by millions by deep-pocketed automakers.
The AP had not called the race as of the Herald’s press deadline, with a little over 58% of precincts reporting and Yes on 1 earning 75% approval.
Question 2 would implement a ranked-choice, or “instant runoff” voting process for state and congressional elections in Massachusetts. The AP had not declared a winner in the neck-and-neck race as of the Herald’s press deadline at 11 p.m.
The system — which has been adopted by the state of Maine and a handful of cities nationwide — would enable voters to rank as many candidates as they want in order of preference. Vote talliers first look at all of the first-place votes, and, if someone has a majority, the election stops there and that person wins, as is the case right now.
If no candidate wins more than 50%, the bottom vote-getter is eliminated, and all of the ballots that went to them are allocated to the voters’ second-place choices. If still that gets no one above 50%, the process repeats, eliminating one candidate per round until there are only two candidates left, at which point the one with the most votes wins.
Opponents of the measure, which include the State Republican Party and Gov. Charlie Baker — say the system is too “confusing.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3mQVZwy
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