The state’s chief elections officer is calling on Massachusetts residents to use President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday “as a day to affirm and celebrate American democracy.”
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin is urging citizens to use the event as an opportunity to register at least one person to vote and to encourage teachers to incorporate information about elections into their lesson plans on Wednesday.
“Recent events have tested a national commitment to the supremacy of citizens’ voting rights and the effectiveness of voting more than any time in our modern history,” Galvin said in a statement.
Biden is slated to become the 46th president on Wednesday. It comes during fraught moment in the nation’s history, with the COVID-19 raging, unemployment claims soaring, and partisan divisions sharpening. The inaugural address is typically looked at as a celebration of the peaceful handover of power, but after a violent mob stormed the Capitol two weeks ago, portions of Washington, D.C., remain under military guard. Up to 25,000 National Guardsmen have been deployed to Washington, several times the number of troops currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, blocking cars and pedestrians from reaching the National Mall and surrounding area, where spectators normally view the inauguration festivities.
The tension has extended to Boston, with the State House being transformed into a fortress in the days ahead of the inauguration. On Sunday, hundreds of police officers stood guard and rows of metal barricades surrounded the building, amid nationwide fears of confrontations with right-wing extremist groups ahead of Biden’s swearing-in.
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Galvin thought it was important to recognize the “historic role of voters of color in participating and determining the outcome of the election.”
The Democrat batted away assertions that his calls for celebration on Wednesday were partisan, emphasizing that “our system of democracy survived its most significant test in modern times,” alluding to the Washington, D.C., insurrection.
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“The reality is that the voters still won, that’s the thing,” said Galvin during a phone interview on Tuesday.
Both the Massachusetts state Republican Party and the party chairman, Jim Lyons, did not return messages seeking comment.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Liz Goodwin of Globe staff contributed.
Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Danny__McDonald.