Ballot initiative campaigns hoping to land a spot on the 2020 Massachusetts ballot had to submit 80,239 signatures to local registrars by Wednesday, November 20. After signatures are verified by local authorities, petitioners must submit those signatures to the secretary of the commonwealth by December 4.

 

On September 4, the attorney general cleared 10 initiatives for circulation. As of Thursday, Voter Choice for Massachusetts, Right to Repair Coalition, and the Massachusetts Senior Coalition reported submitting signatures. It is unclear whether the seven other campaigns met the deadline.

 

Voters Choice for Massachusetts is sponsoring the Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative that would enact ranked-choice voting for all elections in Massachusetts, excluding presidential electors, county commissioners, and regional district school committees, as well as elections in caucuses. Right to Repair Coalition is sponsoring Massachusetts Right to Repair Initiative which concerns access to mechanical data in a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics or telematics system. Massachusetts Senior Coalition is sponsoring the Massachusetts Nursing Homes Medicaid Ratemaking Initiative, which would change the formula that state healthcare programs, such as MassHealth (Medicaid), use to determine payments to nursing homes and rest homes.

 

The Wednesday deadline required at least 80,239 signatures, which equals 3% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. If enough signatures are submitted in the first round, the legislature must act on a successful petition by May 6, 2020. If the legislature fails to adopt the proposed law, petitioners then have until July 1, to request additional petition forms and submit the second round of 13,374 signatures. If successful, the initiative will be placed on the 2020 ballot.