BOSTON — Much of the suspense coming from Massachusetts on Election Day is likely to center around four ballot questions, including one that would that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults.
A proposal asking whether to allow up to a dozen new or expanded charter schools each year outside of current state caps has also been fiercely contested. Voters are also being asked whether to ban the sale of eggs and other food products from farms where animals are held in overly restrictive cages, and whether to authorize a possible gambling facility near Suffolk Downs.
Also, in Franklin County, voters will decide on several lawmakers.
A three-way race for the 1st District congressional seat, with longtime incumbent Springfield Democrat Richard E. Neal facing challenges from Shelburne Libertarian Thomas T. Simmons and Springfield independent Frederick O. Mayock, will face voters in Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Hawley, Heath, Leyden, Monroe, Rowe and Shelburne.
2nd congressional district voters in the remaining Franklin County towns will find incumbent Democrat James P. McGovern of Worcester running unopposed for an 11th term.
Voters in Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Buckland, Charlemont, Hawley, Heath, Rowe and Monroe are also facing a choice for a state senator to fill the two-year vacancy being left by 10-year incumbent Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield. There, Democrat Adam G. Hinds of Pittsfield and Republican Christine M. Canning of Lanesborough.
State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who has served in the Senate since 1991 and has been Senate president since 2015, faces a challenge from Republican Donald Peltier of South Hadley. In Franklin County, the district includes Bernardston, Colrain, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Leverett, Leyden, Montague, New Salem Northfield, Orange, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell and Whately.
More than 1 million of the state’s roughly 4.5 million registered voters cast ballots during the state’s first-ever early voting period that ended last Friday.
Here’s a closer look at the election in Massachusetts:
Advocates for the legalization of recreational marijuana around the country will be watching the results of Question 4 closely. Should Massachusetts and Maine, which is also voting Tuesday, legalize pot, they would be the first states on the East Coast to do so. Proponents suggest that could help build momentum toward an eventual easing of federal restrictions on the drug. Opponents of legalization in Massachusetts contend the ballot question was written largely by — and for — the multibillion-dollar marijuana industry and poses numerous public health and safety risks.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has lately emerged as the chief spokesman for charter school proponents in Massachusetts. He’s been featured in TV and radio ads, penned op-eds for local newspapers and appeared at rallies in support of Question 2. His pitch: Approval will provide families more alternatives to failing urban schools but won’t impact schools in wealthier suburban school districts. With recent polls suggesting a tight race, charter school backers are counting on Baker’s popularity among voters to help tip the scales. Opponents, including teachers unions and many school committees from rural areas like Franklin County, contend that charters drain financial resources from conventional public schools.
Question 3 would prohibit confinement of pigs, calves, and hens that prevents lying down, standing, fully extending limbs or turning around freely. The proposed law would affect just one farm in Massachusetts, the Diemand egg and poultry farm in Wendell.
Secretary of State William Galvin says the successful roll-out of early voting in Massachusetts should help to ease the crunch at polling places on Tuesday. He expects overall turnout to rival that of the presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, despite the absence of other high-profile political races.
There are also a pair of three-way races for two four-year posts for Northfield and Warwick representation on the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee. Northfield incumbents Patricia Shearer and Robin L’Etoile, along with Robert Leighton, are vying for two seats from that town, and Warwick incumbents J. David Young and David Shoemaker, along with newcomer Charles Lisowski, are competing for two seats from their town. There are no contests for two Bernardston seats and a Leyden seat.
Election for all other posts — for state legislators and for Franklin County sheriff — features incumbents who, like McGovern, are running unopposed: Reps. Paul Mark of Peru, Stephen Kulik of Worthington and Susannah Whipps Lee of Athol, and Sheriff Christopher Donelan of Orange.
Also running unopposed are Jay D. DiPucchio of Turners Falls for Franklin Regional Council of Governments Executive Committee and Democrat Mary E. Hurley of East Longmeadow for Governors Council.