Somerville election officials approved signatures for a controversial advisory ballot question Monday, clearing the way for residents to symbolically weigh in on whether the city should stop doing business with companies tied to Israel as that nation prepares to enter into peace talks with Hamas.
Somerville for Palestine, a local grassroots group dedicated to “Palestinian liberation,” collected more than 8,000 signatures to advance the measure that will ask if the city should end current business and prohibit future investments and contracts with companies that “engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
The measure was nearly stopped by opponents who claimed that advocates had obtained fraudulent signatures and worked in a manner out of step with state law. Commissioners with the city’s board of elections ultimately disagreed about the signatures’ legality and found no evidence of fraud during a hearing reviewing the ballot question’s legitimacy.
Advocates like Lucy Tumavicus said the goal of the non-binding initiative is to allow residents to express a desire to separate local tax dollars from the international conflict between Israel and Hamas that has now killed more than 60,000 Palestinians.
“We’re incredibly thrilled that the objection to the ballot measure was overruled by the board of elections commissioners today,” said Tumavicus, who represented Somerville for Palestine during the hearing.
“We’ve talked to thousands of Somerville voters [who] want their voice heard by their elected officials on what is really one of the most critical moral questions of our time,” she said. “They want the opportunity to vote on it.”
The proceedings come as peace negotiations begin on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked an ongoing conflict between the nation and Hamas, the Palestinian militant political group that governs the Gaza Strip. That attack killed 1,200 people, and saw more than 200 others taken hostage, some of whom are still being held captive.
Israel has since responded by bombing Gaza, frequently harming or killing unarmed women, children and civilians, and prompting a famine declaration for more than half a million people unable to access humanitarian aid in the area. The conflict has also sparked protests across the United States and Europe.
Advocates in other cities like Pittsburgh, Iowa City and Portland, Oregon, along with several universities, have brought similar measures, highlighting a global focus among some communities frustrated by the international conflict.
Members of Somerville for Palestine celebrated Monday following the elections commissioners’ decision and pointed to companies like Hewlett-Packard as prime candidates for disinvestment.
Somerville, Tumavicus said, has spent over $1.7 million in contracts on HP technology over the last decade. The company has faced accusations of complicity in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza by providing products and services to the nation, including an automated biometric identification system installed at Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank.
“This ballot question is a way to show that Somerville stands with Palestine and does not want our tax dollars funding this violence,” said another advocate Leila Skinner.
Opponents with the group Somerville United Against Discrimination said in a social media statement they will keep all legal options open. Chair Sam Geechter maintained that the question “has been improperly put on the November ballot.”
The group, which identified itself as “a group of Jewish residents of Somerville and their allies who oppose Question 3,” also began campaigning against the measure with an opposing statement.
“Question 3 takes our focus off Somerville and will lead to lawsuits, wasted resources, and deeper divisions,” said the statement, in part. “Families are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. Our infrastructure needs critical updates. Voting NO is a vote for prioritizing Somerville and its residents.”
The measure is now set to appear on the ballots for Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025.
At-Large Councilor and mayoral candidate Willie Burnley Jr. spoke in support of moving the question to the ballot during Monday’s hearing. At-Large Councilor and leading mayoral candidate Jake Wilson said Monday afternoon, “All along, I’ve had confidence that our law department and elections department would weight this up objectively and arrive at a fact-based determination here.”
Outgoing Mayor Katjana Ballantyne declined to comment on the measure.
