Keller @ Large: 2024 ballot questions could bring major changes to Massachusetts
BOSTON - Your signature is going to be in demand outside area supermarkets in the months ahead, by backers of the 34 ballot questions certified to move ahead today by Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
Not all of them are a lock to make it to the ballot in November of next year, but some are. And all of a sudden, a sleepy 2024 election likely to lack formidable challengers to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats starts to look a bit more momentous.
For instance, brace yourself for an avalanche of ads in the battle over how ride share drivers should be classified. Organized labor said if Uber and Lyft win, it will threaten benefits and job security for all sorts of other workers.
But the rideshare companies say the drivers want the freelance status they're offering. "Can you be pro-union and still vote yes for this?" we asked Conor Yunits, spokesman for the group Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers 2024.
"Absolutely, I think you can, to us this is not a union issue, this question does not deal with unionization," he said.
Union clout may also be tested by the teacher union push to scrap passing the MCAS test as a requirement to graduate high school. Many education reformers say the high-stakes MCAS is the only way to hold schools accountable for their failures. But the union has money, grassroots clout, and polls showing MCAS is unpopular.
"This is about the people of the Commonwealth getting access to what is going on behind those closed doors," said State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who is pursuing a ballot question that would allow her to audit the legislature. While they're not quite as unpopular as they used to be, DiZoglio's bid for authority to audit their books seems sure to appeal to voters who want to curb Beacon Hill's power in this era of one-party rule. "If you are fed up, if you are tired of the shenanigans up on Beacon Hill and the lack of transparency regarding what's happening with your tax dollars, please contact me to get involved.".
And don't forget another big one given the green light today by the AG, a move to allow cities and towns to reinstate rent control, which was banned statewide by voters in 1994.
All these questions still have to collect nearly 75,000 signature by late November, but the four we've mentioned would all bring about major changes. We've been living through an era where the status quo is king on Beacon Hill, with one-party government and incumbents rarely threatened.
The fate of some of these questions could be a sign of more of the same ahead or a demand for change.
