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ballot questions

By adamg - 9/6/17 - 3:03 pm

Attorney General Maura Healey today certified 21 possible ballot questions for the November election in 2018.

Proponents now have until to collect Dec. 6 to collect at least 64,750 valid signatures to have any hope of actually getting their questions before voters next fall. Several of the measures she certified cover similar ground - a state association of retailers, for example, will have to decide just which version of their proposals to cut the state sales tax it will seek to get on the ballot. Read more.

By adamg - 11/15/16 - 10:13 am
Globe headline

Um, what?

Yesterday, the Globe ran a story about the charter-expansion results in Boston with the headline: In Boston, charter vote reflected racial divide.

Yeah, because black people voted overwhelmingly against the expansion of charter schools. Unfortunately for whoever wrote the headline, the map the Globe ran right under that headline shows that white people voted overwhelmingly against charter expansion as well: Read more.

By adamg - 11/13/16 - 4:35 pm
By adamg - 11/7/16 - 8:54 am

There are five ballot questions, but only room enough on the first page of the ballot for four of them. You'll need to turn your ballot over to vote on Question 5, which would add a 1% surcharge to property-tax bills to pay for affordable housing, parks and preservation of historic monuments.

By adamg - 11/4/16 - 8:57 am

The Globe reports the real backers of Question 1, which would carefully define a trailer home in Revere as a possible site for a slots parlor, screwed up and filed their financial forms too early, so now we know that, rather than just one guy living somewhere way outside the continental US, the real backers of the ballot question are a bunch of casino developers.

By adamg - 11/2/16 - 9:31 am

The Globe reports the Moody's rating service is warning that passage of Question 2, which would increase the number of charter schools in Massachusetts, could hurt Boston's credit rating. WBUR reports the Yes on 2 people stuck Obama's picture on a flyer even though the president has taken no position on the question (unlike Bernie Sanders).

By adamg - 10/26/16 - 9:44 am

In addition to four statewide ballot questions, Boston voters are deciding whether to add a surcharge to property tax bills to pay for more affordable housing and improvements to local parks and historical sites. Read more.

By adamg - 10/19/16 - 9:27 am

WBUR is out with results of a ballot-question poll that shows recreational marijuana and more space for chickens winning, expansion of charter schools and letting that one guy build a slots parlor in Revere losing.

By adamg - 10/19/16 - 12:42 am

Revere voters on Tuesday rejected the idea of a slots parlor near Suffolk Downs by roughly 65-35 in a non-binding referendum. Read more.

By adamg - 10/12/16 - 12:33 pm

And just in time for Curt Schilling to run for the Senate on the issue. CommonWealth ponders the pairing and the impact on Charlie Baker, the Republican who signed the measure and who is up for re-election then.

By adamg - 10/7/16 - 10:51 am

Blue Mass. Group takes a look at the groups fighting Question 3, which would ban the sale of eggs and meat from animals forced into close confinement.

By adamg - 10/7/16 - 9:23 am

WBUR reads the entire 24-page marijuana-legalization act you'll be voting on next month and breaks it down for us. For starters, we'd get our very own Cannabis Control Commission.

By adamg - 10/3/16 - 3:57 pm

William Brownsberger (D-2nd Suffolk and Middlesex, which includes Allston/Brighton and the Fenway), writes today he will vote no on Question 2, which would allow for more charter schools in the state, in part because he fears Boston's unique makeup could lead to a destabilization of its public-school system if the measure passed. Read more.

By adamg - 9/13/16 - 8:18 am

WBUR self reports on its 2016 referendum polling. Also, we like the idea of banning tiny cages for chickens.

By adamg - 9/12/16 - 10:24 am

The Herald reports on the donation by Paul Sagan, chairman of the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and a venture capitalist.

By adamg - 8/24/16 - 9:34 am
Sonia Chang-Diaz

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz says she's so disgusted with both sides of the Question 2 issue she doesn't want her answer to be used by either of them to bolster their case.

"I have real beefs with the way the campaigns have been carried out," she said tt a candidate forum sponsored by the Ward 11 and 19 Democratic ward committees in Jamaica Plain last night. Read more.

By adamg - 8/23/16 - 4:21 pm

A federal railroad law passed in 1938 means the two railroads don't have to comply with a state law - passed by voters in 2014 - that requires Massachusetts employers to set aside paid sick leave for their workers. Read more.

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