Ballot Question Blitz: Why reformers are eyeing 2026 for big changes on Beacon Hill
If you know nothing else about the blitz of proposed 2026 ballot questions that were filed with the state last week, know this:
Policy advocates across the spectrum —whose causes live and die at Beacon Hill's whim — are feeling themselves. And they're not afraid to show it.
From rent control and squashing an unpopular statewide zoning law to opening up the state's primaries, ending the gas tax and cutting the income tax, this year's volley of proposals — there are more than 40 of them — signals some high-grade frustration with Beacon Hill's admittedly laissez-faire approach to lawmaking.
The proof is in the numbers. Lawmakers on both sides of the State House introduced an eye-popping 8,456 bills in 2025, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan tracking site Fiscal Note .
So far, just seven bills have made it through the process and been signed into law. That's the worst record in the nation, according to that same analysis.
Given that, it only makes sense to go straight to the voters. And recent history suggests they're willing, under the right circumstances, to play along.
Advocates are "taking heart from a 70% victory on an anti-Beacon Hill ballot measure in the last round," Jerold Duquette, a Central Connecticut State University political science professor who tracks Bay State politics, said.
That's a reference to the wildly popular, but still hotly contested and utterly unfinished, 2024 ballot question that empowered state Auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit the state Legislature's books .
"This is definitely coming from activists who want the pace of change to go faster — urgency felt even more so because of who's in the White House. Trump is polarizing the progressive base and activists are responding," UMass Amherst political science professor Ray La Raja said.
How it all works
It's not as easy as it sounds. And before we proceed, a brief word about the process .
Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell's office has until Sept. 3 to decide which ballot questions meet constitutional muster. If they do, their backers have to gather 74,574 signatures by Dec. 3.
If that happens, the questions go before the state Legislature, which has until the first Wednesday in May of 2026 to pass them, propose a substitute, or take no action.
If the latter happens, backers have to collect a second round of 12,429 signatures by July of the same year to get on the November general election ballot.
The power and money game
And that's where things can really get interesting — and the cash can start pouring in, putting to lie the idea that ballot questions are the popular will given voice.
Once again, the proof is in the numbers. Interest groups on either side of the 2024 ballot questions spent a combined total of $25.2 million to advance their causes, according to a report by the state's Office of Campaign and Political Finance .
That includes the hugely influential Massachusetts Teachers Association, which advocated on behalf of scrapping the MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement.
The MTA was the single largest contributor to the Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes, "paying for goods and services such as advertising, mailings, consulting, and staff time to support the question," according to that OCPF analysis.
"It's an elitist game — it's become dominated by people who are already powerful, and have a very large presence in the state," La Raja said.
For Duquette, these kinds of high-profile contests are also a way for the Legislature to wash its hands of taking on a politically polarizing issue. The high-dollar ballot battles then become proxy fights, he argued.
"It's ... a political pressure valve that the Legislature is happy to use," he said. "When there is an issue that causes two special interests to square off against each other, the Legislature is happy to let them beat each other up."
Secretary of State Bill Galvin, law enforcement officials and advocates highlighted resources for mental wellness, substance use and domestic violence at a press conference Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022 at the State House with the holiday season underway.Alison Kuznitz/MassLive
Marquee names
Among the constellation of interest groups waging ballot fights, one high-wattage political name emerges: Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin.
The state's chief elections officer has filed a question that would allow people to register and vote on Election Day. The Brighton Democrat told MassLive that it's the "capstone" of a broader effort to make it easier for people to vote.
"Every major election we have, statewide that is consequential, we end up with tens of thousands of people trying to vote ... and they are not on the list, they get a provisional ballot, then the election administrators try to determine [whether] they can be counted," Galvin said in a phone interview.
And that's where La Raja and Duquette said they both draw the line between ballot questions that improve the process and those they believe do not.
Ballot questions that make it easier to vote or boost competition in elections, broadly, are good ones, they argued. Others, such as one that would ditch legislative leadership stipends, are "institutional tinkering" and not as welcome.
"I don't like ballot measures that try to change the institution itself," La Raja explained. "They should be making their own decisions. Changes will happen in the Legislature if you change the electoral incentives."
Duquette, in a separate interview, offered a similar analysis.
"Any ballot initiative that tries to change the operation of the Legislature is unconstitutional," he argued. "This is the nose in the tent for the kind of executive overreach that has destroyed Washington and paralyzed many state houses around the country."
Read more analysis from John L. Micek
Read the original article on MassLive .
