Ella Adams
State House News Service

Placing 12 initiative petitions on the ballot in 2026 will take a logistical toll on the state elections division and may complicate local ballot box deposits because voters may need to fill out multiple ballot cards, the state's top elections official said Tuesday.

Members of Secretary of State William Galvin's office delivered dollies of more than 100 boxes of signature sheets from his Ashburton Place office to the State House basement ahead of the Wednesday deadline for questions to be transmitted to the House clerk's office and into the legislative pipeline. 

The boxes held a record-breaking number of petition sheets, Galvin's office said. 

"What's striking to me is not just the number, but the diversity of the groups," Galvin told reporters. 

"What's the common theme, if there is one? I think it's that there's been no action by the Legislature on a wide variety of topics," Galvin said. "I'm not criticizing this as much as I'm saying, if you want to look at why it's here, people have decided that, apparently, whatever the cost of getting the signature is to get on the ballot, it's probably a more efficient use of their resources."

Galvin's office certified eleven questions that would implement all-party state primaries, establish statewide rent control, subject most records of the governor and Massachusetts Legislature to the public records law, allow people to register and vote on Election Day, reduce the state's personal income tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent, reform the Legislature's stipend system, roll back recreational cannabis use, steer millions from the state's sporting goods sales tax to conservation efforts, ease zoning rules by allowing for single-family homes on smaller lots, allow collective bargaining for employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and require tax refunds if state revenues hit a new limit.

A twelfth measure previously certified to hit the 2026 ballot would repeal the state's 2024 gun control law. 

Top legislative Democrats have raised concerns over the slew of questions and the special interest groups that are pushing voter referendums to bypass the traditional legislative process. Questioned about those concerns, Galvin said "these are only here because citizens, voters have signed them." 

"I think they're referencing the fact that most, if not all the questions, used some paid signature gatherers. But I don't think that diminishes the significance of the voters' signatures," Galvin continued. "For instance, I believe in our calculation, the highest number of signatures for any particular question was in support of the one that would limit stipends in the legislature. Draw your own conclusions, but I think it's fair to say, there are several that have similar themes."

Lawmakers have until the first Wednesday in May to act on the measures. They have often chosen to let the voters to decide. Legislators bucked that trend in June of 2018, when they negotiated a "grand bargain" compromise to avoid sending measures to the ballot that fall. Issues within the bargain included raising the minimum wage, increasing tipped workers' wages, and creating a paid medical and family leave program. 

If questions are left untouched by lawmakers by Wednesday, May 6, 2026, petitioners must file 12,429 more certified signatures with registrars at least 14 days before the first Wednesday in July in order to make it through to the November 2026 state general election ballot. 

Galvin said his office would prefer if some of the questions were resolved by lawmakers due to the administrative challenges posed by the volume of questions. 

"The biggest challenge will be the actual logistics of printing the ballot, because we're required — and we should be — to print a summary. The summary that appeared on the papers will be on the ballot, so it will explain exactly what the proposal does. Because of that, and some of the summaries are long, it's going to require that every ballot probably have multiple ballot cards," Galvin said. 

In some communities, it's also required that ballots be printed in two or three different languages, he added.

"It's going to be difficult for the voter, going to be challenging for the logistics of ballot boxes and things like that," Galvin said. That's on top of Galvin's voter information pamphlet, or "Red Book," that must be printed and inclusive of everything on the ballot. 

His office has met with Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz to ask that Governor Maura Healey recommend increasing his budget due to the costs tied to printing ballots and booklets for so many questions. There are also potential postage problems, he said, due to the substantial number of people voting by mail.

"We're going to be talking a very significant increase in the cost of the election. But you know, democracy is not cheap, and we're going to pay the price for it — whatever it is, it's worth it," Galvin told reporters. He estimated that his new budget request is $5 million higher than the original one. 

Galvin, 75, a Democrat from Brighton, has served as Massachusetts Secretary of States since 1995. Asked if he is running for re-election in 2026, Galvin said, "We’ll be getting to that very soon."

Ella Adams is a reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Massachusetts.