William F. Galvin

2006 election

While it had been widely rumored that Galvin would run for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006 as a Democrat, he announced at the end of 2005 that he would instead seek reelection as Secretary of State. Voting rights advocate John Bonifaz had already declared that he would run for the office, and stayed in the race to challenge Galvin for re-election. However, Galvin defeated Bonifaz in the September 19 Democratic primary. Galvin defeated Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein, a medical doctor and environmental health advocate who ran for Governor in 2002, in the November general election.

The Democratic primary race received relatively little attention or press coverage for most of 2006, but in the last few weeks before election, a controversy over Galvin's refusal to debate his opponent broke into the news with a front-page story in The Boston Sunday Globe.^[11] This is the first time a front-page story appeared about this race in any major Boston paper.

2018 election

In November 2017, Boston City Council member Josh Zakim announced that he would run for Secretary of the Commonwealth, challenging fellow-Democrat Galvin in the 2018 election.^[12] Amid the primary challenge, Galvin came out in favor of same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration.^[13] Previously, Galvin had expressed skepticism of automatic voter registration, and had appealed a Superior Court ruling which struck down a state law requiring that voters be registered 20 days prior to an election in order to vote in it.^[14][15][16] On June 2, 2018, Zakim won the endorsement of the Massachusetts Democratic Party at its state convention, defeating Galvin with 55% of the vote to Galvin's 45%.^[17] Galvin subsequently defeated Zakim in the Democratic primary on September 4 with 67% of the vote.^[18] On November 6, Galvin won re-election as Secretary of the Commonwealth, winning 71% of the vote against Republican Anthony Amore.^[19]

2022 election

In January 2022, NAACP Boston president Tanisha Sullivan announced a campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth.^[20] Galvin campaigned on his voting rights record, having implemented no-excuse mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic, which became a permanent change. On the other hand, Sullivan claimed that he hadn't gone far enough to further voting rights. She claimed that mail-in voting should have been implemented before the pandemic, and emphasized that Massachusetts still did not have same-day voter registration. Galvin claimed that while he supports same-day registration, the legislature is responsible for implementing it.^[21] Sullivan won the endorsement of the state Democratic Party, as well as from multiple Boston city councillors and mayors. 62% of Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention delegates voted to support her. During the campaign, Sullivan was more active, attending regular interviews and hosting rallies, while Galvin ran a quieter campaign.^[22] Galvin defeated Sullivan in the September 6 Democratic primary with 70% of the vote.^[23] In the general election, Galvin faced Republican Rayla Campbell, who opposed mail in voting.^[21] On November 8, Galvin won re-election with 68% of the vote.^[24]

2008 UOCAVA violation settlement with Department of Justice

An investigation by the US Justice Department found that Galvin, as Massachusetts Secretary of State, had violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth was found to have failed to collect and report data on absentee ballots sent, returned, and cast by overseas citizens and military personnel registered to vote in Massachusetts, as required by the law since amendments in 2002. The lawsuit was settled out of court, requiring Galvin to comply with the law.^[25]

2009 lawsuit against stockbroker Robert Jaffe

On January 14, 2009, Galvin filed suit against Robert Jaffe to compel Jaffe to testify about his role in the Bernard Madoff investment scandal. Jaffe, who lives in Weston, Massachusetts and in Florida, countered that he is actually one of the victims of Madoff.^[26] Jaffe is married to Ellen Shapiro, daughter of Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro. Jaffe reportedly convinced the elder Shapiro to invest $250 million with Madoff about 10 days before Madoff's arrest.^[27][28]

2021 regulatory action against MassMutual in GameStop affair

In September 2021, Massachusetts regulators fined MassMutual $4 million for failing to supervise the trading activity of their employee Keith Gill, a leading player in the GameStop short squeeze which led to hedge funds losing billions. Galvin characterised Gill as a professional trader/dealer, citing his 1,700 trades on behalf of three other individuals. However, Galvin failed to disclose that the three individuals were all members of Gill's family and that less than 5% of the 1,700 trades were for GameStop. Following his pursuit of litigation against Gill, it was reported that Galvin was engaging in partisan politics and had opposed bilingual ballots in contravention of the Voting Rights Act.^[29]