Children deserve to get through their most sensitive years before encountering a product built to profit from vice and vulnerability.
State Government
Posted inElection 2026
On Election Day in Lawrence, political corruption, low voter turnout, and uncontested races converge
Lawrence voters, candidates, and civic organizations alike grappled Tuesday with the city’s recent political scandals, historically low turnout, and uncontested races as they tried to mobilize residents and make political change in the city. Though the city’s voter turnout rate increased slightly this election, it still has a long way to go.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mass. just tackled 9 ballot questions. Here’s where each landed, and what comes next.
Facing nine ballot questions, Bay Staters rejected efforts to throw out existing cannabis and gun laws, and to change an obscure tax cap law. They gave the green light to legislative transparency and Election Day voter registration while waving away a quest to replace party primaries with nonpartisan ones. A new state agency will now be allowed to unionize, and there may be more money for conservation efforts in the next few years.
Posted inBallot Questions
Voters subject governor and Legislature to public records law, but there’s no guarantee lawmakers will comply
All eyes will now turn to the House and Senate, where negotiators need to decide in the next eight weeks whether to follow through on an earlier proposal to substitute their own idea for public records access for the version that four out of five voters embraced.
Posted inBallot Questions
Primary election reform backers concede as ballot measure falls short
Voters rebuffed an attempt to inject more competition into the state’s low-energy elections by shuttling all candidates through a single primary contest, regardless of their party affiliation.
Posted inPolitics
Democrats, in seismic blue wave, continue domination in Massachusetts as they take back power in Washington
In a national political environment favoring Democrats, Bay State voters chose to stick with Healey and Markey at the top of the ticket for another term in this Democratic stronghold.
Posted inOpinion
Our polling shows strong support for statewide restrictions on cellphones in schools. Will the Legislature act?
Local school districts, including the state’s largest district, are increasingly moving forward on their own, creating a patchwork of local policies in the absence of statewide action.
Posted inElection 2026
Galvin uncertain about beating voter turnout in 2022, 2018
There’s been “a dramatic increase” in early in-person voting, Galvin said at a State House press conference, while the mail-in voting rate is about the same as it was in 2022.
Posted inThe Codcast
Your Massachusetts midterm rundown
On this episode of The Codcast, we get listeners all caught up on the political landscape in Massachusetts and around the country heading into the crucial 2026 midterm elections.
Posted inBallot Questions
Backers of primary election overhaul say the proposal is ‘Massachusetts-grown.’ For years, its top donors funded similar efforts across the country.
Campaign finance records paint a more nuanced picture of who’s backing the measure, and color the Bay State as the next front in a national debate over systemic reforms intended to fix persistent electoral problems.
Posted inOpinion
A developer’s warning: Question 7 is not an affordable housing plan
Smaller lots reduce land cost, so they should produce less expensive homes. Sometimes they do. But smaller lots do not require cheaper homes, and often that’s not what gets built.
Posted inOpinion
It’s time to end Boston’s unique status of being exempt from the state zoning code
The case for maintaining the archaic status quo grows weaker with every statewide housing reform.
Posted inElection 2026
South Coast could be battleground in governor’s race
The governor’s stop in Fall River was her second event of the day in Bristol County, following an energy-focused stop at Attleboro’s senior center Wednesday morning.
Posted inOpinion
Question 7 is fair because it spreads the burden of building housing
Nobody wants denser housing built only near them, so no city or town wants to be the only one that builds.
Posted inElection 2026
Minogue highlights sheriffs’ concerns with PROTECT Act
Twelve sheriffs have asked Gov. Maura Healey to consider addressing what they’re calling “an unintended public safety consequence” of a law intended to guard against overzealous immigration law enforcement by ICE.
Posted inBallot Questions
Ballotmania: Inside the flurry of measures upending Massachusetts politics
The record-tying number of initiatives on the ballot next week put Beacon Hill on the defensive, and it’s resurfaced thorny questions about the powers and pitfalls of lawmaking by statewide vote.
Posted inOpinion
Question 5 would lead to deep cuts in services that communities rely on
It would cause tremendous uncertainty in the economy, with experts predicting the necessary spending cuts to fund the question would vary wildly from year to year.
Posted inBallot Questions
Political Notebook: Question 8 surpasses Question 3 as most expensive ballot question
An early-October burst of spending by opponents of an attempt to eliminate the recreational marijuana industry has pushed the total amount spent on that measure (Question 8) to nearly $6.5 million. That’s a good chunk more than the $5.9 million spent for and against the all-party primary question so far.
Posted inThe Codcast
You have questions about ballot questions. We answered them.
On this special episode of The Codcast, we answer listener-submitted questions all about the field of nine ballot questions this November.
Posted inOpinion
Many voters can’t name a single major accomplishment of Gov. Healey’s. Here’s one that has flown under the radar: saving public transit.
Gov. Healey has taken crucial steps to reverse the downward trajectory our transit systems were on. Part of the reason why this has gone unnoticed is that there remains so much to do to bring our transit systems up to the level that users deserve.
Posted inOpinion
Question 3 would let voters reclaim their voice
Question 3 moves the final decision from the elections that most people ignore to the ones that have high participation
Posted inOpinion
Question 3 would bring California’s primary problems to Massachusetts
Democracy reform is personal for me. The first time I walked into the State House, I was a 16-year-old youth organizer advocating for our civics education bill with other Gateway City kids.
Posted inOpinion
All-party primaries would be a step backwards for Massachusetts
Question 3 would eliminate the ability of Bay State parties to police the use of their party labels by candidates in elections and sever the only meaningful accountability link between candidates/officeholders and party platforms.
