Massachusetts voters could wind up sifting through at least 12 ballot questions this November.
The website for the office of Secretary of State William Galvin shows a wide array of issues that have met the necessary signature totals and been certified. Rent control, marijuana regulations and election day voter registration are all included at this point.
The high total would be a record for Massachusetts and potentially put voters in a unique spot.
“Asking folks to feel like they understand these issues, understand the impacts, understand what it’s going to mean, that really, I think, can create some policy-making challenges,” said Doug Howgate with Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
But talk of 2026 is colliding with questions of the past. Detailing an audit into settlement agreements, Massachusetts Auditor Diana DiZoglio spoke of three agencies failing to provide needed documents and calling out what she sees as gaslighting by state leaders.
That complaint extends beyond the day-to-day and into her ballot question to audit the Legislature, which passed overwhelmingly in 2024, but has yet to be implemented.
“All sorts of games and allegations about not being able to access documents, or questions being answered from our office. I’ve repeatedly called on the AG to subpoena, whatever she needs, I’ll happily skip to court and meet her there,” said DiZoglio.
Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has maintained her office needs to know the audit’s scope to determine what is constitutional.
Analysts say the ongoing fight shows the complexities of the process.
“You often see ballot questions, especially those that garner the public attention on issues, that then get very complicated very quickly,” said Howgate.
As for which questions will be on the ballot in 2026, Galvin’s office’s website says the questions will be transmitted to the Legislature, and if the House and senate choose not to pass a proposed law, the petitioners behind the questions will then be permitted to gather an additional 12,429 signatures to secure their spot on the ballot.
