Massachusetts Voters Weighed in on 5 Ballot Questions. Here’s What They Chose.

Updated November 6, 2024, at 2:58 p.m.

Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure to eliminate the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam as a high school graduation requirement but rejected pushes to legalize psychedelics and raise the minimum wage for tipped workers during Tuesday’s elections.

The election also saw votes in favor of expanding the state auditor’s power to investigate the state legislature and allowing rideshare drivers to unionize, according to the Associated Press.

Ballot Question 2 — the most contested of the five measures — passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote as of early Wednesday morning, successfully removing the MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement.

While the measure’s opponents, including Governor Maura T. Healey ’92, stressed the necessity of standardizing graduation expectations statewide, the influential Massachusetts Teachers Association — which poured millions into the “yes” campaign — said the requirement creates unnecessary stress for students, particularly those from marginalized groups.

Voters also rejected a measure to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, an initiative that was heavily promoted by national non-profit One Fair Wage. In interviews with The Crimson, tipped workers said they feared the measure would impact their tips and hours, as well as lead to lower employment across the restaurant industry.

The Massachusetts Restaurant Association led the opposition to the proposal, arguing that the wage hike would lead to rising prices due to higher operating costs. About 64 percent of voters rejected the measure, according to the AP, which called the race shortly before 1 a.m with 71 percent of votes reported.

The failure of Ballot Question 4, which would have allowed Massachusetts residents over the age of 21 to grow, possess and use certain natural psychedelics, comes as a disappointment to its supporters — including the Harvard Undergraduate Psychedelics Club. Still, skepticism over the rapid legalization of psychedelic drugs drove around 57 percent of voters to oppose the measure as of Wednesday morning, though not all votes had been counted.

Massachusetts residents voted resoundingly in favor of Ballot Question 1, which will allow the state auditor to investigate the state legislature.

The State House, whose operations remain largely opaque to the public, has attracted increasing scrutiny from many residents who feel it has remained dysfunctional and unaccountable for too long. About 72 percent of voters approved the ballot measure, according to the AP, which called the race just before midnight Tuesday.

Massachusetts is currently the only state where the legislature claims full exemption from the public records law, keeping almost all of its internal operations barred from the public. The legislature has delivered the state budget late for the past 14 years and left a slew of bills untouched after the last executive session.

Frustration with the legislature manifested acutely in Cambridge in September, as voters nearly unseated State Rep. Marjorie C. Decker in favor of Harvard graduate student and labor leader Evan C. MacKay ’19, a progressive challenger who charged Decker with upholding the status quo on Beacon Hill. Decker won by only 41 votes.

While opponents of the ballot measure argued that it would give the state auditor too much authority and posed thorny questions around the separation of power, proponents emphasized that it would serve as the first steps toward increasing transparency in the state government.

The narrowest result of the bunch came on Wednesday, as about 54 percent of voters approved Ballot Question 3, allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to form unions to negotiate their wages and benefits and working conditions.

Even with the right to unionize, however, Uber and Lyft drivers will still remain classified as independent contractors, not employees of the companies.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.