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Massachusetts Certifies Nine Statewide Ballot Questions for November

Certification on July 21 forces many communities to use two- to three-page ballots with a voter guide scheduled for September.

Overview

  • The Elections Division certified nine citizen-initiated questions and assigned official numbers and an order intended to save ballot space, completing a required step for the Nov. 3, 2026 state election.
  • Campaign committees met the two-stage signature requirement by filing at least 74,574 initial petitions last fall and the required 12,429 supplemental signatures by the July 1 deadline after the legislature did not adopt the measures.
  • The nine questions cover a mix of structural and policy changes, including public records access, collective bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services employees, elimination of party primaries in favor of a top-two system, and election day voter registration.
  • Two measures would roll back prior statewide laws if approved: Question 8 would repeal the 2016 law authorizing retail sales of recreational marijuana and Question 9 would repeal the 2024 gun reform statute.
  • Because this is the largest group of statewide questions since 1994, voters should expect longer ballots in many towns and cities and the Secretary of State will publish a detailed voters' information book in September to explain each question and its effects.