Massachusetts Definition of a Person Initiative (2024)
| Massachusetts Definition of a Person Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Constitutional rights | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts Definition of a Person Initiative (#23-09) was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 5, 2024.
The initiative would have defined a person as "a man or a woman, a human, a living soul, an individual male or female, and their children male and female." It would have also stated that "the life and dignity of every person must be respected and protected at every stage of life and in every condition."[1][2]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Massachusetts, the number of signatures required to qualify an indirect initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 3.5 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. No more than one-quarter of the verified signatures on any petition can come from a single county. The process for initiated state statutes in Massachusetts is indirect, which means the legislature has a chance to approve initiatives with successful petitions directly without the measure going to the voters. A first round of signatures equal to 3 percent of the votes cast for governor is required to put an initiative before the legislature. A second round of signatures equal to 0.5 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last election is required to put the measure on the ballot if the legislature rejects or declines to act on a proposed initiated statute. Signatures for initiated statutes in Massachusetts are collected in two circulation periods. The first period runs from the third Wednesday in September to two weeks prior to the first Wednesday in December, a period of nine weeks. If the proposed law is not adopted by the first Wednesday of May, petitioners then have until the first Wednesday of July (eight weeks) to request additional petition forms and submit the second round of signatures.
The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2024 ballot:
- Signatures required (first round): 74,574 signatures
- Signatures required (second round): 12,429 signatures
- Deadline (first round): The deadline to submit the first round of signatures to the secretary of state was December 6, 2023. Signatures needed to be submitted to local registrars by November 22, 2023.
- Deadline (second round): The deadline to submit the second round of signatures was July 3, 2024.
If enough signatures are submitted in the first round, the legislature must act on a successful petition by the first Wednesday of May. The measure only goes on the ballot if the legislature does not pass it and if the second round of signatures is successfully collected.
Details about this initiative
- The initiative was filed in July 2023 by Eric M. Reed.[2]
- On September 6, 2023, the attorney general announced it did not meet the qualifications to be cleared for circulation.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
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