Election Day is less than three weeks away. Do you have a plan to vote?

Fortunately, you have options for how to vote this year (and, indeed, you may have already voted!):

• Vote by mail: If you haven’t sent in a vote-by-mail application yet and wish to do so, you can download a form here. If you’ve already received your ballot, you can send it back via mail or via a dropbox near you. And if you want to confirm receipt, you can track your ballot.
• Vote early in person: Early voting starts this weekend. You can find locations in your community here.
• Vote on Election Day: As always, you can confirm your polling place at wheredoivotema.com.

And remember, the deadline to register to vote or update your registration is Saturday, October 29. You can register online here if you need to.

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Your Progressive Guide to the Statewide Ballot Initiatives

YES ON 1: Fair Share Amendment

The Fair Share Amendment – Question 1 on the November ballot – will allow Massachusetts to improve our transportation and public education systems by making the very rich pay their fair share. Question 1 would create a 4 percent tax on the portion of a person’s annual income above $1 million and constitutionally dedicate the funds to be spent on transportation and public education. Only people who earn more than $1 million annually will be impacted; 99% of us won’t pay a penny more. And we’ll all benefit from better schools, roads, bridges, and public transportation. Learn more and get involved at FairShareMA.com.

YES on 2: Better Dental Care

In Massachusetts, we have a law that requires medical insurance plans to spend at least 88% of all money taken in by premiums on health care or efforts to improve the quality of health care delivery. However, no such requirement exists for dental insurance, enabling insurance companies to siphon off as much as they want to line executives’ pockets. Question 2 would establish such a requirement for dental insurance plans so that dental insurance premiums go toward care, rather than profit, and strengthen financial transparency and regulation of dental insurance companies.

YES on 4: Safer Roads

A YES on 4 would uphold the Work & Family Mobility Act, a bill passed by 75% of the MA Legislature that would allow qualified drivers – regardless of immigration status – to pass a road test, buy insurance, obtain a license and legally drive in Massachusetts. By voting YES ON 4, Massachusetts voters will ensure that immigrants without status can legally make essential trips, like dropping off kids at school and getting to work, medical appointments, and the grocery store, while upholding the regulatory framework that ensures all drivers have passed a road test, bought insurance, and have a form of verified identification. Learn more and get involved at https://saferroadsma.com/.

Wait, Is There a 5 or a 6, too?

In select state representative districts, there are non-binding advisory questions as well, and if you see them on your ballot, you should also vote YES:

• YES on 5, which would instruct the district’s state representative to support legislation to create a single payer health care system in Massachusetts so that we finally treat health care as a right, not a privilege.
• YES on 6, which would instruct the district’s state representative to support a change to the MA House’s rules enabling all legislative committee’s votes to be public, posted online as they are on most other states.

Both are clear and simple; you should vote YES, and your state representative should listen.

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Legislative Endorsements

As a reminder, our members have endorsed the following candidates:

State Senate

Hampden, Hampshire & Worcester: Jake Oliveira

Norfolk, Worcester & Middlesex: Becca Rausch

Second Suffolk: Liz Miranda

First Worcester: Robyn Kennedy

State House

3rd Bristol: Carol Doherty

7th Essex: Manny Cruz

8th Middlesex: James Arena-DeRosa

22nd Middlesex: Teresa English

27th Middlesex: Erika Uyterhoeven

9th Norfolk: Kevin Kalkut

11th Plymouth: Rita Mendes

5th Suffolk: Christopher Worrell

15th Suffolk: Sam Montaño

11th Worcester: Stephen Fishman

17th Worcester: David LeBoeuf

District Attorney

Plymouth County: Rahsaan Hall

Election Day is one month and one day away. That’s right: November 8 is coming fast.

And there are many opportunities, all across Massachusetts, to help ensure victory for Question 1 and Question 4 this November.

Question 1: The Fair Share Amendment

As a reminder, Question 1, the Fair Share Amendment, would add a 4% surtax to the portion of someone’s annual income over $1 million to raise $2 billion in constitutionally dedicated funds for public education and transportation across the Commonwealth. 99+% of us won’t pay a penny more, but we will all benefit from the investments the revenue would make possible.

Those investments can mean greater funding for early education, for more teachers and counselors in our schools, for lowering tuition and hiring faculty and at our public colleges and universities, for fixing potholes, for upgrading structurally deficient bridges, and for expanding access to high-quality public transit.

Here’s how you can help:

• Find a canvass near you.
• Sign up for a phone bank.
• Sign up for a relational organizing training.

Question 4: The Work & Family Mobility Act / YES for Safer Roads

As a reminder, in June over 75% of Massachusetts State Senators and Representatives voted to override a gubernatorial veto so that all qualified state residents, regardless of immigration status, can apply for a standard Massachusetts driver’s license starting on July 1, 2023, joining 18 other states with such laws including our neighbors New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Unfortunately, xenophobes and reactionaries in the state are trying to overturn this and are hoping to repeal it by ballot. But we won’t let them.

Vote YES to keep the law in place for safer roads, greater public safety, and work and family mobility.

• Find a canvass near you.
• Sign up for a phone bank.
• Pledge to vote YES on Question 4 here.