In Massachusetts, groups can pursue ballot questions when, in their belief, the Legislature is not acting quickly enough or if they disagree with actions the Legislature has taken.*

According to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, this is the ballot-initiative process in brief:

Step 1: A group must write the exact text of their law on an original petition and have it signed by at least ten certified voters. The petition must be received by the first Wednesday in August, in the odd year before the election (even) year.

Step 2: The Attorney General will then review the petition to see if it an appropriate subject for a ballot question. (The AG cannot rule on whether it’s constitutional; that’s up to the courts, which is why some questions make it far into the process before the courts rule them unconstitutional.)

Step 3: If appropriate, the AG will certify the question and write what they believe to be a fair and concise summary to be printed on the petition forms. (It was the AG’s summary of the proposed ballot question to lower the income tax from 5- to 4% that tanked that question, because the AG incorrectly specified that it wouldn’t affect capital gains taxes; it would.)

Step 4: Organizers then have until the first Wednesday in December to obtain roughly 78,000 signatures (3% of the total votes cast for Governor in the preceding election).

Step 5: The legislature has until the first Wednesday in May to consider/act on the ballot question.

Step 6: If the legislature doesn’t act on the question, the organizers must collect another 12,000 or so signatures (0.5% of the total votes cast for the Governor in the previous election) before the first Wednesday in July.

And, presto, barring any (successful) court challenges, the question makes it to the ballot!

* For example, one of the ballot questions this November will be to repeal the 2024 law passed by the Legislature to ban ghost guns and 3D-printed guns.)