By Bob Katzen

Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow) proposed a late-filed bill that would remove the home street address of candidates for elected office from ballots and nomination papers. The measure would allow only the city or town in which the candidate resides to be listed.

The measure was filed in response to a shooting in which Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed.

Oliveira said that Massachusetts is “an extreme outlier” as the only state that prints candidate addresses on ballots. He noted that 44 other states list only party affiliation on a public ballot, and five list a candidate’s home municipality, precinct or ward but not a full street address.

“Only Massachusetts includes the information that we have on our ballots,” said Oliveira. “We need to do everything that we can to protect one another, protect our staff and protect our family, and this is a step in the right direction.”