Proponents of a dozen possible ballot questions in Massachusetts have a big deadline ahead of them Wednesday as they seek to put various issues before voters next year.
The certified signatures of more than 80,000 voters must be turned into the Secretary of State's office in order for ballot questions to stay on track for the 2020 election.
Tommy Hickey is with the Right to Repair Coalition, which wants to require auto manufacturers to make more information public. He said his group should have enough signatures to move on — but gathering them can be quite a process.
"We have over 3,000 repair shops in Massachusetts," Hickey said. "A lot of them are out there collecting signatures with their customers. We had some volunteers. We have over 3,000 consumers as part of our coalition."
If enough signatures are certified, the legislature could take action — or organizers would have to collect even more signatures, for questions to hit the ballot.
A handful of other groups behind the initiative petitions — including those seeking ranked-choice or instant runoff voting, and a Cumberland Farms-backed proposal to allow beer and wine sales at food stores — have said they already collected more than a sufficient number of signatures to advance deeper into the process.
This report includes information from State House News Service.