While voters like the ballot question system, lawmakers are considering reworking the process

Influential state lawmakers have made no secret this year, with voters set to decide the most ballot questions in more than 30 years, how they feel about the very concept of outsourcing their job to the public. 

"This whole system is fraught with peril," House Speaker Ron Mariano said at a February MASSterList event where he and Senate President Karen Spilka fretted about special-interest groups and paid signature-gathering. 

Spilka also warned of what a spokesperson later described as “the challenge of fully understanding the real impacts of ballot questions when they don’t go through the same rigorous vetting as legislation.” 

Recent polling suggests voters don’t share their concerns about making laws at the ballot. 

In a September MassINC Polling Group survey, more than three-quarters of respondents said it's a good thing to let voters decide on the issues. Fifteen percent said the Legislature should decide more of the policies rather than leaving them in citizens' hands, and 9% were unsure. 

A separate poll, also conducted last month by the University of New Hampshire, asked likely voters not only whether they were a "yes" or a "no" on six of this year's nine ballot questions, but how well they understood the measures. Eighty-seven percent said they understand Question 4, on same-day voter registration, very or somewhat well, and 54% said the same of Question 9, which asks whether to uphold or repeal the state's 2024 gun law.

Responses fell somewhere in between for the other questions included in the survey, on repealing recreational marijuana, creating a new nature conservation fund, adopting an all-party primary system, and setting a smaller minimum lot size for single-family homes. 

Advocates often take an issue to the ballot when they’re tired of watching a bill die over and over on Beacon Hill. But lawmakers, too, have the power to turn their frustrations into legislation.

A bill that’s now been behind the closed door of a conference committee for two months could lay the groundwork for future reforms to the ballot question process. 

When the House in July took up a ballot question campaign finance bill already approved by the Senate, representatives added in a section creating a commission to review the ballot question process laid out in the state's constitution. The commission, if the Senate agrees to set it up, would have until the end of 2027 to recommend potential constitutional amendments making changes. 

If lawmakers decide they do, ultimately, want to tweak the constitution's initiative petition rules, voters would eventually get the final say. The last step in the process of amending the constitution is, of course, a ballot question. 

Where do you come down on the ballot question question? Does the system work, or are there changes you'd like to see? Let me know your take: [email protected]

8:30 | MassAbility brings together AI and tech leaders, businesses, workforce experts and innovators to explore how AI and emerging tech is changing the way people work. The event will dive into how AI can expand workforce participation and create opportunities, including for people with disabilities | Westin Waltham Boston, 70 3rd Ave., Waltham

9:00 | Early College Joint Committee meets. The panel is composed of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Board of Higher Education. Agenda includes discussions on Early College program updates and Gov. Healey's plan to enroll 100,000 students in early college in 10 years, plus a FY 2027 budget update | Agenda and Zoom

10:00 | Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton tours the Burlington ICE facility. Tour is scheduled through 11:30 a.m. with a press availability to follow | 1000 District Ave., Burlington

11:00 | U.S. Sen. Markey holds a press conference with immigrant rights advocates, physicians, and community members to "denounce Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill" and its consequences for healthcare in Massachusetts | La Colaborativa, 63 6th St., Chelsea

11:00 | GOP candidate for governor Mike Minogue is a guest on GBH News' Boston Public Radio | Boston Public Library studio, 700 Boylston St., Boston | 89.7 FM and gbhnews.org

11:00 | Auditor DiZoglio attends the Haverhill Public Safety & City Workers Appreciation Cookout | Driscoll Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 309 S Main St., Haverhill

4:45 | Legal scholars Lawrence Lessig and Michael Farris open two-day conference at Harvard Law School on amending the U.S. Constitution through an Article V convention called by the states, a method that has never been used. Jill Lepore delivers keynote | Wasserstein Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge | Register | Schedule

5:30 | Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue holds a meet-and-greet event alongside congressional candidate Tyler Macallister | Fireside Grille, 30 Bedford St., Middleborough

6:30 | Rep. Chris Markey, who is running for Bristol County district attorney, debates Republican nominee Seth Aitken. WPRI's Tim White and Ted Nesi moderate | WPRI-TV, FOX Providence and www.WPRI.com

7:00 | Republican Senate candidate John Deaton holds a town hall in Lowell as part of his "People Over Politics" tour | Coburn Hall, Room 275, 850 Broadway St, Lowell

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VIBE CHECK: There's still at least some political distance between Gov. Healey and Boston Mayor Wu after Wu endorsed Healey for reelection. Wu stayed neutral on Healey's pitch to suspend the state gas tax, and Healey didn't commit to backing Wu on city issues like her property tax-shift plan. | State House News Service (gift link)

IN THE PIPELINE: Gov. Healey wrote to the Trump administration asking for quick approval of a gas pipeline expansion referred to as RARE. Her letter also suggested "more opportunities ahead” and nodded toward a bigger, more controversial expansion known as Project Beacon. | CommonWealth Beacon

ABUSE REPORT REAX: In the wake of a state report into the abuse of nearly 1,000 children over decades in the Worcester, Springfield and Fall River Catholic dioceses, Gov. Healey stopped short of saying whether she'd sign potential legislation scrapping the statute of limitations for civil claims on child sexual abuse. The investigation started under Healey when she was attorney general. | WCVB

BALLOT BUCKS: Wealthy individuals linked to investment, private equity and venture capital firms have put up millions of dollars to support Question 3, the ballot measure that would replace the state's partisan primaries with a single all-party primary. Campaign leader Danielle Allen says it's because of her social relationships and dogged fundraising. | Boston Globe

ALL IN COURT: A proposed class action suit filed this week in federal court in Boston alleges that DraftKings used AI to target people to gamble irresponsibly. The lawsuit follows a New York Times investigation, and DraftKings denies the allegations. | WBUR

CRAMPED WHILE CRAMMING: Everett officials are eyeing a new middle school as a fix for a long-term overcrowding problem that has some students learning in makeshift classrooms in hallways, libraries and performance studios. | CBS Boston

CLEAR-CUT OPPOSITION: More than 500 people have signed a letter to Gov. Healey from Western Mass Towns for a Responsible Grid, asking her to intervene before Eversource starts removing trees from 278 acres across 11 communities for a right-of-way reliability program. The group is asking for selective cutting instead. | Greenfield Recorder

CANDIDATE’S RECORD: Police reports show Peter Meaney, a Lynn Democrat who's challenging Saugus Republican Rep. Donald Wong, was arrested twice for OUI in 2018 and 2019. Meaney says he lost his dad to alcoholism and takes responsibility for his actions from his own struggle. | Boston Herald

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KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller’s guest is Republican nominee for U.S. Senate John Deaton, who discusses the differences between him and incumbent Ed Markey, and his positions on the war with Iran and health care reform.

@ ISSUE: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard looks at the race for state treasurer, featuring conversations with incumbent Democrat Deb Goldberg and Republican challenger Elizabeth Dionne.

ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. NewsCenter 5’s Ed Harding and Sharman Sacchetti sit down with Gov. Maura Healey. Democratic political analyst Mary Anne Marsh and Republican political analyst Ginny Buckingham join for a roundtable discussion.

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