The Massachusetts Forward Party is soliciting feedback from members and supporters on a slate of proposed 2026 statewide ballot questions, which party leaders say will be used to shape its organizing and advocacy priorities ahead of the general election.
In a January 26 email, the party asked respondents to weigh in on whether the number of proposed questions could be overwhelming for voters, as well as to assess the relative importance of each measure. While the survey does not ask members to formally endorse or oppose individual proposals, state Forward leaders said the responses will be used to help determine where the party should focus its efforts in the coming year.
Earlier this month, Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin said his office found that 11 petitions cleared the first signature threshold, which required petitioners to collect at least 74,574 certified signatures to place a measure on the 2026 ballot. A total of 23 ballot questions were initially proposed, though the rest fell short of the signature requirement.
Galvin’s office will now transmit the qualifying petitions to the Massachusetts Legislature, which will have until May 5 to consider and act on them. The Legislature can choose to enact a proposal into law, removing the need for it to appear on the ballot. However, if lawmakers decline to act, petitioners will be required to collect an additional 12,429 signatures in order to place their measure on the November 2026 ballot.
The Massachusetts Forward Party has already taken action on at least two of the proposals. Last October, the party partnered with the Coalition for a Healthy Democracy to hold a day of action aimed at collecting signatures for the measure that would implement an all-party primary system. The proposal would eliminate separate partisan primaries and instead place all candidates for an office on a single primary ballot open to all voters. The party also backed a ballot initiative seeking to reform legislative stipends by establishing fixed percentages of base salary for leadership and committee positions.
A full list of the proposals advancing to the next stage, along with the number of signatures collected for each, is included below:
| Initiative Title | First Round of Signatures | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative Petition for an Act to Reform and Regulate Legislative Stipends | 96,797 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law to Protect Water & Nature | 89,216 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law to Improve Access to Public Records | 89,013 | Link |
| An Initiative Petition to Protect Tenants by Limiting Rent Increases | 88,132 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Election Day Registration | 87,408 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Reducing the State Personal Income Tax Rate from 5% to 4% | 86,970 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Labor Relations Policies for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees | 86,153 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Limiting State Tax Collection Growth and Returning Surpluses to Taxpayers | 85,588 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law to Allow Single-Family Homes on Small Lots in Areas with Adequate Infrastructure | 84,343 | Link |
| An Initiative Petition for a Law to Implement All-Party State Primaries | 79,032 | Link |
| Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Regulating Marijuana | 78,301 | Link |
The so-called “An Initiative Petition for a Law to Implement All-Party State Primaries”, if passed would kill all third parties, frustrate many independent candidates, and so cripple the Republican Party in Massachusetts, as to legally establish Massachusetts as a one-party state forever.