Saturday, December 7, 2019

The number of potential MA 2020 Ballot questions now down to 8

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:
"Ballot questions related to electoral reform, beer and wine sales, automotive repairs and more are on track to go before voters in 2020 after supporters cleared a major signature-gathering threshold by Wednesday’s deadline.

Eight campaigns pushing for changes to state law or constitutional amendments submitted signatures from registered voters to Secretary of State William Galvin by the end of the business day on Wednesday, according to Galvin’s office.

It was not immediately clear how many of those will clear the threshold of 80,239 certified signatures required to advance, a key hurdle toward appearing on the ballot next November, but supporters of questions about ranked-choice voting, right to repair, nursing home funding and sales of beer and wine in food stores each said they submitted a sufficient amount.

This cycle’s ballot push officially ended Wednesday for proposed constitutional amendments to restore voting rights to incarcerated Massachusetts felons and rewrite the state constitution to remove language that has been interpreted as a right to an abortion for those who qualify for MassHealth. Although both campaigns submitted signatures, neither collected enough, according to organizers."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20191206/ballot-questions-in-galvins-hands

"In 1918, the voters of the Commonwealth approved an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, stating that “Legislative power shall continue to be vested in the general court; but the people reserve to themselves the popular initiative, which is the power of a specified number of voters to submit constitutional amendments and laws to the people for approval or rejection; and the popular referendum, which is the power of a specified number of voters to submit laws, enacted by the general court, to the people for their ratification or rejection.”
 
For stats on ballot questions going back to 1919 which is the first election after the MA Constitutional amendment that enabled the ballot question process
https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elebalm/balmresults.html

To view the MA Election calendar (month by month)
https://www.sec.state.ma.us/CalendarWeb/Pages/MonthWeekCalendar.aspx


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