If you're a Massachusetts voter, you could be forgiven for feeling like casting your vote in tomorrow's election will be a bit anticlimactic.
We're in the middle of a high-stakes presidential contest, and yet it's extremely unlikely that Massachusetts votes will have any influence on the outcome; meanwhile, voters will find that they only have one choice on their ballot in many state-level races.
But just because our state politicians aren't showing up to vote on major pieces of legislation, that doesn't mean we need to follow their example.
Where your vote will make a difference
There are five ballot initiatives on tomorrow's ballot – WBUR has provided in-depth explainers on each one.
Two ballot questions should be of particular interest to Streetsblog readers.
Question 1 aims to give the state auditor the explicit authority to audit the state Legislature, which notoriously conducts most of its business behind closed doors, and gives itself permission to ignore public records laws.
This ballot question isn't explicitly about transportation, but the Legislature's lack of transparency, accountability, and effectiveness looms over some of the Commonwealth's biggest transportation issues, like the MBTA's upcoming $700 million budget shortfall and the state's lack of progress on its climate policies.
Question 3 is more directly related to transportation policy. It would allow drivers for app-based ridershare companies – primarily Uber and Lyft – to form a "sector-based union" and bargain for better working conditions, even though Uber and Lyft consider them to be "independent contractors" and not true employees.
Voters will nominally elect a new Legislature tomorrow as well. But because Massachusetts essentially has a single-party political system, most of our State House races were either uncontested or effectively determined during September's primaries.
However, a few lucky voters will get to choose a winner in a small handful of contested races tomorrow – like this State House race in Westfield.
Look up your polling place
Enter your street address on this website to look up your polling place.
