Live blog: Latest updates on the Massachusetts 2026 elections

Voters told GBH News it's especially important to make sure their voices are heard during an election year where “so much is at stake.”

"I think when things are this critical, staying home and not practicing our civic duty to vote is complacency and we're capitulating," said Danielle Desjardin, who voted at the Alexander Hamilton School in Brighton on Tuesday. "That's not what I believe we need to be doing. I believe we need to be sharing our voices and our opinions and trying to make the world a better place."

David Simonson was casting his ballot at Swampscott High School. On Election Day, he said he feels a responsibility to show up.

“It’s just the civic duty, you know, give you a chance to promote your voice, and give you an opportunity to vote for your opinions,” he said. “You can't complain if you don't vote.”

Voters also said that while Massachusetts has historically been a liberal leaning state, they want to make sure that's shown on a national level.

How does Massachusetts compare to its neighbors when it comes to state government transparency? To find out, we decided to ask the governor’s offices of all six New England states for the same records.

Massachusetts voters are now deciding the fate of Ballot Question 1, which asks if the public should have access to most records held by the Massachusetts Legislature and the governor’s office. Massachusetts is the only state to exempt the governor’s office, the legislature and the judiciary from public records laws.

To compare how transparent each of the governor’s offices are in the six New England states, GBH News requested records for gifts received by the governor’s office and staff last December. Not a seemingly difficult question.

We gave them more than three weeks. But Massachusetts had the distinction of being the only state that couldn’t even provide a timeline of when the request might be answered. Public records advocates call it more evidence the state is an “outlier,” pointing to the need to change public records law.

Read more here about the current laws in New England — and the Rhode Island governor’s $200 “Holiday Gift Basket Containing Italian Products.

Ballot Question 8 would repeal the voter-approved 2016 measure that legalized recreational marijuana in the commonwealth. It would dismantle a decade’s worth of cannabis industry-building that this year reached $10 billion in gross sales, and billions of dollars in tax revenue.

The question has attracted more than $5 million in campaign contributions between both sides and fueled speculation over who is behind it. At a legislative hearing on the issue earlier this year, lawmakers needled the question’s supporters over who is funding the repeal campaign.

But GBH News’ partner station New England Public Media has found no evidence to substantiate claims that Question 8 or SAM are connected to the alcohol or tobacco industries.

The coalition in support of the campaign is almost entirely funded by the fundraising arm of a Virginia-based anti-drug advocacy group called Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM for short. They have provided the overwhelming majority of cash being used to advocate for Question 8 over the last two years.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana is a nonprofit that describes itself as a “nonpartisan organization for health-first marijuana policy.”

In an interview with NEPM, Kevin Sabet with SAM said the organization was approached by Massachusetts families impacted by marijuana legalization. He said the public health concerns around its use are why they’ve pumped so much money into the initiative.

Sabet said local residents reached out to them: “Many of them voted for this initiative 10 years ago and feel betrayed.”

He said they don’t disclose their donors to protect families that might be targeted or harassed if they were made public.

“From our point of view, we have nothing to hide,” he said. “I’ve been very open that we are getting money from families that have lived this nightmare.”

Read more here.

As a slew of voters pass through the Alexander Hamilton School in Brighton to cast their votes on Tuesday, they told GBH News that the ballot questions were their key motivation for coming out to vote.

“Number 8 specifically,” said Ana Doherty, a graduate student at Boston College who voted Tuesday morning.

Ballot Question 8, if approved, would make it illegal to sell recreational cannabis in Massachusetts, a decade after voters first made it legal in a statewide ballot initiative.

“That question is very important because it will disproportionately affect Black and brown communities if you are voting one way or another," Doherty said. "This is something that we've seen historically and something that we could see again, and I don't think it has a place in Massachusetts specifically.”

Many also cited a question on whether to keep or repeal a 2024 Massachusetts gun law — Ballot Question 9 — as an issue that was important to them.

GBH News was following Andrea James when she was unceremoniously ushered out of WBZ-TV’s office last month. When James arrived soon before the gubernatorial debate last Thursday, she was — understandably — not in a great mood. She’s a candidate for governor, but she wasn’t invited to participate in the debate.

“We’re tired of mainstream media that wants to pretend there’s not a third candidate running,” James told me as we stood at the edge of Soldiers Field Road, a stone’s throw away from where supporters of Democratic Gov. Maura Healey and Republican challenger Mike Minogue were yelling and blasting air horns. “None of these networks, including yours, has talked about me as a third candidate. I’m on the ballot, and I’m running, and I deserve the right to be heard.

Adam Reilly GBH News

As the third candidate in the race, James, a former Democrat, is running largely to the left of Healey. She’s motivated by what she considers injustices in prisons and is an advocate for universal housing, health care and child care. She also believes that the newly passed PROTECT Act, which is supposed to limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, doesn’t go far enough when it comes to achieving that goal.

For the Massachusetts media, James’ candidacy presents a conundrum. Realistically, the chances of her winning are theoretical at best. Then again, she did qualify for the ballot. She would be the first Black woman to govern Massachusetts if elected. And if she were granted a place on the debate stage with her rivals, or given a fraction of the media attention they’ve received over the past year, her chances might look very different.

Here’s why she’s running.

As Lisa Thomas recently monitored Worcester’s early voting site at the city’s downtown public library, she was quick to notice something different about this year’s election: it’s taking voters longer to fill out their ballots.

“For some folks, it can be a little confusing because there are nine ballot questions,” said Thomas, who has been overseeing elections for years in Worcester and, before that, Marlborough.

Some early voters told GBH News all those ballot questions are difficult to understand, and they recommend other people review the measures before heading to the polls.

Read more from GBH News’ Sam Turken.

Polls will be open until 8 p.m. tonight. Find your polling location and view your ballot through this statewide lookup tool.

In most cases, you will not be asked to show an ID to vote. There are only some cases, like if you’re voting for the first time, that a poll worker may ask to see your ID. Your proof of identification can be a license, recent utility bill or a copy of your rental lease.

If you don’t have your ID with you, it’s your right to request a provisional ballot. You can then return to the polling location before it closes to have your ID verified and your vote counted.

You can also cast a provisional ballot if your name isn’t on the list at your polling location. You can ask the poll worker to call the local election office to confirm your registration.

Massachusetts’ elections administrator said more than 1.1 million people have voted early this year. Bill Galvin, the longtime secretary of state, described as a “dramatic” increase over past years — but he didn’t offer any solid predictions on total turnout when he spoke from the State House Monday.

For those planning to vote on Election Day, Galvin advises voters to bring a list to help navigate the nine ballot questions that are in front of them this year.

Looking ahead to Tuesday, Galvin’s big hope is that turnout at least matches what Massachusetts has seen in past midterm elections. However, he said some indicators — like searches for polling place locations — are down.

“I’m saying I think if we can get 1.5 million people to come out tomorrow statewide — which we can, and it’s going to be great weather — then we will make at least what we got in ’22,” he said. “Will we get to the 2.7 [million] we had in ’18? I have a hard time seeing that. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I don’t know. It’s not obvious right now.”