Topic: Petition Drive

Qualifying a ballot initiative in Massachusetts requires two separate signature drives and strict adherence to complex rules. Petitioners must collect approximately 67,000 signatures on separate sheets for each of the 351 cities and towns, and any stray pen marks on a sheet can result in all signatures on that page being disqualified.

The Massachusetts constitution requires a secondary signature drive if the state legislature fails to vote a petition into law within four months. During the income tax repeal efforts, the legislature ignored the proposals, forcing the Center for Small Government to conduct additional rounds of signature collection to reach the ballot.