Massachusetts certifies four ballot questions on standardized testing, state legislature audits, transportation network drivers, and psychedelic substances

Secretary of State William Galvin (D) announced that four of the five initiatives that submitted verified signatures on July 3 had qualified for the ballot. The initiatives address standardized testing for graduate high school; auditing the state legislature; unionizing and collective bargaining for transportation network drivers; and providing regulated access to certain psychedelic substances.

One initiative, which would increase the minimum wage for tipped employees, is pending certification following a challenge to the signatures on the petition filed by Massachusetts Restaurant Association Director of Government Affairs Jessica Muradian with the State Ballot Law Commission. The campaign submitted 12,565 verified signatures. A hearing is scheduled for July 17.

The process for initiated state statutes in Massachusetts is indirect, which means the legislature has a chance to approve initiatives with successful petitions directly without the measure going to the voters. A first round of signatures equal to 3% of the votes cast for governor (74,574 signatures) is required to put an initiative before the legislature. A second round of signatures equal to 0.5 percent of the votes cast for governor (12,429 signatures) in the last election is required to put the measure on the ballot if the legislature rejects or declines to act on a proposed initiated statute.

Signatures for initiated statutes in Massachusetts are collected in two circulation periods. The first period runs from the third Wednesday in September to two weeks prior to the first Wednesday in December, a period of nine weeks. If the proposed law is not adopted by the first Wednesday of May, petitioners then have until the first Wednesday of July (eight weeks) to request additional petition forms and submit the second round of signatures.

An initiative sponsored by State Auditor Diana DiZoglio (D) that would explicitly authorize the state auditor to audit the state legislature turned in the highest number of verified signatures with 21,551. The campaign to repeal the requirement that students must achieve a certain competency level on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam to graduate high school submitted 19,692 signatures. The campaign to provide for unionizing and collective bargaining for transportation network drivers submitted 18,084 signatures. The fourth initiative, which would provide for regulated access to psychedelic substances, submitted 13,073 signatures.

Fifty-two (52) ballot initiatives, including constitutional amendments, were filed for the 2024 election cycle in Massachusetts. Between 2010 and 2022, the average number of ballot initiatives filed was 29, and the average number of initiatives certified was three.

In Massachusetts, a total of 76 ballot measures appeared on statewide ballots between 1985 and 2022. Forty-one (41) ballot measures were approved, and 35 ballot measures were defeated.