Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey
Massachusetts Question 1, Restrictions on Trapping Referendum (1934)
| Massachusetts Question 1 | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Election date |
|
| Topic Hunting regulations |
|
| Status |
|
| Type Veto referendum |
Origin |
Massachusetts Question 1 was on the ballot as a veto referendum in Massachusetts on November 6, 1934. It was approved.
A “yes” vote supported placing restrictions on the use of traps. |
A “no” vote opposed placing restrictions on the use of traps. |
Election results
|
Massachusetts Question 1 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
484,172 | 60.17% | ||
| No | 320,543 | 39.83% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Question 1 was as follows:
| “ | Shall a law described as follows:- This law amends General Laws, chapter 131, as previously amended, by repealing section 105A thereof and adding thereto three new sections, 105B, 105C, and 114A. Section 105B provides that whoever uses any trap or other device for capture of fur bearing animals, which is not designed to kill such animal at once or to take it unhurt and which is likely to cause continued suffering to an animal caught therein, shall be fined fifty dollars but traps or other devices for protection of property, set not more than fifty yards from any building cultivated plot, or enclosures used for rearing poultry or game birds, to the use of which the presence of vermin may be detrimental, are excluded from the application of this section. Section 105C provides for the submission to the voters at a municipal election in any city or town upon petition, of the question of whether the operation of section 105B shall be suspended or if it has been already suspended, of the question whether it shall again be operative in such city or town. Section 114A provides that the Commissioner of Conservation may suspend the operation of section 105B for a period not exceeding thirty days within any specified territory under the control of his department. The law also provides for the submission, by the selectmen to the voters at a special town meeting in the current year, upon petition, of the question as to whether the provisions of section 105B shall be suspended in any town; and which was approved by both branches of the General Court by vote not recorded, be approved? | ” |
Path to the ballot
Before 1952, citizen-initiated ballot measures in Massachusetts required a fixed number of signatures. In 1950, voters approved a constitutional amendment changing this to a percentage-based system, tying the number of required signatures to ballots cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Before 1952, the signature requirement for veto referendums was 15,000 for general legislation and 10,000 for emergency legislation.
See also
External links
- William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Massachusetts Statewide Ballot Measures: 1919-Present"
- The Springfield Daily Republican, "Legal Notices," October 25, 1934
Footnotes
 |
State of Massachusetts Boston (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
