Extra question on local ballots

While the top three ballot questions, such as the one to repeal the state income tax, have gotten big exposure, some voters may find less familiar ballot measures when they enter polling booths tomorrow.
Depending on where they live, some voters will also be asked to consider nonbinding ballot measures, which will turn up on most ballots as Question 4, or in the case of North Walpole as Question 5. (Question 4 throughout Walpole asks voters whether they favor overriding Proposition 2 1/2 to pay for a new library.)
Not all of these nonbinding questions are the same. One asks if the state should have a single-payer health care system, another pushes for renewable energy and a third asks voters if they want to make the elected positions in the Legislature part-time jobs. In Dedham and Westwood, Question 4 asks voters if they favor abolishing county government. That inquiry appears as Question 5 in North Walpole.
In the 11th Norfolk District, which consists of Dedham, Westwood and North Walpole, the questions reads: Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would abolish county government and transfer all of its functions, duties and responsibilities to state government, including but not limited to the operation and management of the county jail and house of correction, the registry of deeds, and the courthouses?
Ballots across the state can, as in North Walpole, get complicated.
Natick may be the most complicated because all residents of that town will vote on nonbinding questions, but the query is not the same in every precinct.
The questions, if passed, ask the local state representative to support the measure's cause. Since the ballot questions are tied to a representative, the measure is voted on by people living in specific House districts, said Brian McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin.
``A person can come up with an idea for what the Legislature should do, and they write a ballot question asking `Shall the legislator be instructed to vote in favor of X,'°'' McNiff said. ``These are nonbinding (measures). They are a sense of the community.''
Getting a measure on the ballot for a House district requires the author to collect 200 district voter signatures and have them certified by Galvin's office, McNiff said. Measures can also be placed on ballots for state Senate districts, McNiff said, by collecting and certifying 1,200 signatures in the district.
Some measures have advocacy groups behind them while others were spearheaded by an individual, but McNiff said Galvin's office often does not know who organized the measure.
``We don't know who's behind them,'' he said. ``We just get the names of those who signed the petition.''
Across the state this year there are about 40 nonbinding measures, McNiff said, after quickly looking through the list. Some questions made the ballot in more than one district, and some districts have multiple nonbinding measures.
Not all ballot questions are created equal, and the state has a hierarchy to decide the numbering, McNiff said. Constitutional amendments go first (there are none this year), then statewide initiatives, followed by binding measures in a community - such as the override in Walpole or Community Preservation Act vote - and finally, nonbinding ballot measures.
This fall there are three statewide measures, so in most communities the nonbinding questions will be fourth on the list, and begin with the text, ``This question is not binding.''
The three statewide ballot questions are Question 1, a measure that would repeal the state income tax; Question 2, a measure that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana; and Question 3, a measure that would end greyhound racing in the Bay State in 2010.
Information for nonbinding questions does not go into the voter information booklets sent to voters, but McNiff said people can find out if they will be voting on one by going to the Elections Division page on the Secretary of State's Web site - www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleidx.htm - and clicking ``Where do I vote?'' By entering a home address, a voter can see what is on the ballot, including all the ballot questions at the bottom.
Charlie Breitrose can be reached at 508-626-3964 or cbreitro@cnc.com