State Elections Division Certifies First Batch of Ballot Questions

The Elections Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office has announced that petitions for five potential ballot questions have completed processing and have been determined to contain enough certified signatures to advance toward the 2026 State Election ballot.

According to the Elections Division, the following ballot questions contain more than the 74,574 certified signatures required to proceed to the next step in the process of qualifying for the ballot:

• "An Initiative Petition for a Law to Implement All-Party State Primaries" – 79,032
• "An Initiative Petition to Protect Tenants by Limiting Rent Increases" – 88,132
• "Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Election Day Registration" – 87,408
• "Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Reducing the State Personal Income Tax Rate from 5% to 4%" – 86,970
• "Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Regulating Marijuana" – 78,301

In total, the Elections Division received eleven ballot question filings of significant size by the December 3, 2025 filing deadline. The Division will continue to process the remaining six ballot questions ahead of its January 7, 2026 deadline to transmit qualifying petitions to the Massachusetts Legislature.

After qualifying petitions are transmitted on January 7, 2026, the Legislature will have until May 5, 2026 to consider and act on the proposals. If the Legislature chooses not to pass a proposed law, the petitioners will be permitted to gather the additional 12,429 signatures needed to place the question on the ballot in November.