2026 BALLOT QUESTIONS 3, 4, AND 5 EXPLAINED
Several white voting stations stand against a brick wall, each showing a flag icon and the word “VOTE,” with the nearest sign in sharp focus.
Massachusetts voters will have the opportunity to vote on nine different ballot questions on or before November 3rd, 2026. These ballot questions have the potential to change state law in significant ways.
The 2026 Ballot Questions explore the following:
Extend the public records law to the Legislature and the governor’s office
Allow Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) staff to form a union
Replace partisan primary elections with a single “all-party primary”
Allow prospective voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day
Recalculate the formula for the limit on state tax collections
Direct existing sales tax to a state fund for conservation
Reduce minimum lot-size requirements in many communities
Repeal the legalization of the sale and use of recreational marijuana
Uphold Massachusetts’ updated firearms law
Learn more about each of the ballot questions using CommonWealth Beacon and WBUR’s respective guides.
On October 15th, MASSCreative hosted a webinar on Questions 3, 4, and 5 to help our community make informed choices at the ballot box, as a part of our Create the Vote initiative. We brought on campaign managers and organizers representing different positions on the three questions to share their reasons why they support or oppose the proposals.
MASSCreative is not endorsing any of the ballot questions.
Read on for additional materials about the ballot questions and to watch the webinar recording.
WEBINAR RESOURCES
WATCH THE RECORDING:
READING MATERIALS AND RESOURCES:
Question 3: Replacing partisan primary elections with a single “all-party primary”
Question 4: Allowing prospective voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day
There is not an organized "No on 4" campaign. An opposing speaker was not present for this section.
Question 5: Recalculating the formula for the limit on state tax collections
A “Yes on 5” FAQ and information page are available at AffordableMA.org
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
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Jonathan Cohn is the Policy Director for Progressive Massachusetts, a multi-issue grassroots organization that advocates for state level policy. He has been active in campaigns to expand voting rights, strengthen immigrants' rights, increase education funding, and make a fairer tax code, among many more. He has also been a volunteer, neighborhood team leader, regional coordinator, or campaign manager for various candidate campaigns and ballot initiatives at the city, state, county, and national level.
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Chris Keohan worked as a senior staffer in political, field and finance departments for multiple local, state and federal campaigns. Chris has served as senior advisor to Marty Walsh’s successful Mayoral campaign in Boston, and to Deborah Goldberg’s successful campaign for Treasurer. He also served as the Executive Director of Treasurer-Elect Goldberg’s transition team. He has worked on campaigns in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Virginia, as well as traveling to 35+ states performing advance work during multiple Presidential campaigns. He has become a go-to consultant for ballot questions in Massachusetts having an undefeated record over the past several cycles that have won awards for Comeback Campaign of the Year, Best Field Campaign and Best Overall Ballot Campaign.
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Jesse has spent more than twenty years at the intersection of movement building, democracy, and technology — from knocking on doors as an organizer on environmental campaigns in Fargo, Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles, to leading campaigns at Common Cause, one of the nation’s largest democracy organizations, to running a statewide ballot campaign in Massachusetts.
As Vice President for Campaigns at Common Cause, he grew the organization’s activist list from 250,000 to over 1.5 million members and supporters, raised over $25 million online from small-dollar donors, and led the campaign that recruited more than 30,000 Election Protection volunteers in 2020. From 2016 to 2023 he led the counter-disinformation work for the largest national nonpartisan voter protection coalition.
Jesse has been leading the campaign for Yes on 3 with Coalition for Healthy Democracy, and pro-democracy organization working to strengthen transparency, accountability and competition in Massachusetts.
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Olivia Santoro is the Deputy Field Director for Civic Education and Mobilization at the ACLU of Massachusetts. She primarily works with ACLU volunteers and community partners to engage them in civil rights and civil liberties advocacy at the state and local level. She also builds workshops and trainings to help people get the skills they need to be effective advocates in their community. Liv has been with the ACLU of Massachusetts for 9 years.
