In Massachusetts, the initiative filing deadline for the 2024 ballot was Aug. 3. Initiative sponsors filed 52 measures (49 initiated state statutes and three initiated constitutional amendments) by the deadline—the most filed over the last six election cycles. The average number of initiatives filed between 2012 and 2022 was 29. An average of three initiatives made the ballot.
Sponsors filed 11 state statutes and three constitutional amendments between 2020 and 2022 for the 2024 ballot. Five were approved to circulate, but none submitted signatures by the first deadline on Dec. 7, 2022, and therefore will not qualify for the 2024 ballot.
In 2023, sponsors filed 38 state statutes by the Aug. 3 deadline. The Massachusetts initiative process requires the attorney general to report by the first Wednesday in September (Sept. 6, 2023) which initiatives meet the statutory and constitutional requirements and are cleared for signature gathering.
