By Molly Horan Capen

Last month, Attorney General (AG) Andrea Campbell completed her constitutional review and certified 40 ballot measures, and four constitutional amendments, to proceed in the process. The certification is not a policy endorsement by the AG, nor does it guarantee all 40 will make it onto the ballot next year. While the ultimate number of ballot measures will be determined over the next several months, we do know it will be fewer than the total number certified.  

Of the 40 ballot measures, six include multiple versions of the same petition or appear to be nearly identical. This is a tactic used by proponents to play offense legally against a potential certification rejection and most proponents will only move forward collecting signatures on one version.  

Most campaigns will hire professional signature collectors given the short submission deadline, but that requires a significant financial commitment (upwards of $500,000 at the low end – one that your average citizen can’t commit to for a passion project). The signature requirement is the largest hurdle for proponents to meet and should shrink the field considerably. 

This is a staggering number of potential 2026 ballot measures, but a long and expensive road remains for proponents to gather the roughly 74,000 signatures by mid-November to remain eligible to appear on the ballot next year, at which point another round of signatures will be required.  

Below is a high-level summary of the themes and topics that have been certified. 

HOUSING, HOUSING, HOUSING 

Eight ballot measures filed relate to rent control, zoning, development, lot sizes, evictions, and the MBTA Communities Act.  

• Rent control (25-21 & AG summary) will be among the most watched measures; we expect many influential groups across the state to take a position on this question. 
  • Throwback: Massachusetts voters banned rent control at the ballot box thirty years ago. Two years ago, a rent control ballot measure was filed and later withdrawn due to lack of consensus from proponents.
• As we’ve seen legal fights playing out around implementation of the MBTA Communities Act, it’s not surprising to see multiple measures relating to the question of zoning and development: 
  • Repeal MBTA Communities Act (25-32 & AG summary) 
  • Preserve Local Control of Zoning (25-33 & AG summary) 
  • Prevent Overdevelopment (25-34 & AG summary) 
  • Reform Zoning Process (25-35 & AG summary) 
    • Note: 25-32, 25-33, 25-34, and 25-35 were all filed by the same individual who seems to be active in lawsuits and the media railing against the MBTA Communities law. 
  • Single Family Lots (25-03 & AG summary) 
  • Right to Counsel in Evictions (25-30 & AG summary) 
  • Right to Counsel in Evictions and Foreclosures (25-31 & AG summary) 
    • Note: this is not technically a second version, but it appears nearly identical to the previous filing. 

VOTING RIGHTS & ELECTIONS 

Five topics, a total of seven measures, were filed and certified relating to voter registration, voting rights and our election systems. 

• Restore Voting Rights for Incarcerated Felons (25-01 & AG Summary) 
  • This is a constitutional amendment, which has a longer process than a ballot measure.
• Require Voter ID (25-04 & AG summary) and (25-05 & AG summary) 
• Make Voter Registry Public Information (25-07 & AG summary) 
• Election Day Registration (25-08 & AG summary) 
  • Note: This measure was filed by MA Secretary of State Bill Galvin, who oversees elections.  
• Party Primaries to All-Party Primary System Version B (25-12 & AG summary) 
  • Three versions of this were submitted; Version A was rejected, while Versions B & C (25-13 & AG summary) were certified. 

TAXES 

Five ballot measures were proposed that relate to taxes in Massachusetts. It’s common to see proposals relating to taxes filed, though it’s worth noting that two of these questions will be backed by a coalition of business groups focused on economic competitiveness that launched earlier this year. 

• Limiting State Tax Collection Growth (25-17 & AG summary) 
• Reduce State Income Tax from 5% to 4% (25-18 & AG summary) 
• Reduce the Sales Tax (25-23 & AG summary) 
• End the Gas Tax (25-27 & AG summary) 
• Cap Residential and Commercial Property Taxes (25-28 & AG summary) 

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! 

For folks keeping score at home, that leaves 24 additional measures certified covering a wide range of topics from legislative stipends to collective bargaining rights to autonomous vehicles to utility billing to marijuana laws, etc. A few honorable mentions that we’ll call attention to: 

• Collective Bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees (25-22 & AG Summary). 
  • Given the recent spotlight on how quickly our justice system buckles when we lack enough public defenders, this is a question to watch.  
• Anti-autonomous Vehicles (25-25 & AG Summary)  
  • As autonomous vehicles are being tested and deployed across the country, this measure would effectively undercut the nascent industry entirely in Mass. by requiring a human operator in the car (think having a toll-booth operator sitting under an E-ZPass scanner). 

A full list of all proposed ballot measures and summaries can be found here. Between signature deadlines and lawsuits, by the end of this year, the list of potential measures on the 2026 ballot will be a lot shorter.