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BOSTON — The Elections Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth has certified the first five initiative petitions that have cleared the initial signature hurdle for the 2026 state election ballot, confirming each contains more than the 74,574 certified signatures required to advance to the next step in the process.
According to the Elections Division, the following petitions have completed processing and met the signature threshold: an all-party state primaries proposal (79,032 certified signatures); a measure to protect tenants by limiting rent increases (88,132); a petition relative to Election Day registration (87,408); a proposal to reduce the state personal income tax rate from 5% to 4% (86,970); and a measure relative to regulating marijuana (78,301).
The certification comes amid what Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin's office has described as a potentially historic ballot cycle. Earlier this month, Galvin's office said the attorney general had certified 44 initiative petitions at the start of the cycle, and that 10 campaigns had submitted signatures by the filing deadline, with an 11th reportedly preparing to do so. Galvin's office also said the influx of filings could surpass the previous high of nine ballot questions certified for a single state election (in 1972, 1976 and 1994).
In the Dec. 18 release, the Elections Division said it received 11 ballot question filings "of significant size" by the Dec. 3 deadline and will continue processing the remaining six petitions ahead of a Jan. 7, 2026 deadline to transmit qualifying petitions to the Massachusetts Legislature. After transmission, lawmakers have until May 5, 2026 to act; if they do not pass a proposed law, petitioners may return for an additional round of 12,429 signatures to place the question on the November ballot.
Notably for Marblehead and other "MBTA Communities," a proposed repeal of the MBTA zoning law was not included in the first batch of five certified petitions announced Dec. 18. The repeal proposal would eliminate the state requirement that municipalities allow multifamily housing in at least one reasonably sized district near transit, void districts adopted under the law and prohibit penalizing communities based on compliance. In Marblehead, officials have been rebuilding a compliance plan after voters repealed the town's earlier proposal 3,642-3,297 in a July referendum, and state officials later confirmed Marblehead became ineligible for more than $2.8 million in competitive grants.
