On Sept. 1, an unenrolled voter walked into the polls and had to make a choice before marking a single oval. Take a Democratic ballot, and you could weigh in on Ed Markey versus Seth Moulton for U.S. Senate. Take a Republican ballot, and you could help pick a Plymouth County commissioner and a nominee for governor. You could not do both. Question 3 on the Nov. 3 ballot would end that choice by ending separate party primaries altogether.
Question 3 would replace the Democratic and Republican primaries with a single primary ballot. Every candidate for an office would appear on one ballot, labeled with their party or political designation, and every registered voter would get the same ballot. The top two winners would advance regardless of party -even if both are Democrats or both are Republicans.
It would cover governor and the other statewide offices, U.S. Senate and House, the state Legislature, Governor’s Council, and county offices such as district attorney, sheriff, register of probate, county treasurer and county commissioner. Governor and Lieutenant Governor would run together as a ticket. It would not change town elections, presidential primaries or the election of party town committees.
Halifax, Kingston, and Plympton look different from Massachusetts as a whole in one important way.
According to the most recent enrollment figures from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, about 20,700 registered voters live in the three towns combined. Roughly 70 percent are unenrolled — close to the statewide figure. But the rest split almost evenly between the parties: about 15.6 percent Democrats and 12.9 percent Republicans. In Plympton, registered Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats. Statewide, Democrats outnumber Republicans better than two to one.
That balance shows up at the polls. Of the roughly 4,700 ballots cast in the three towns on Sept. 1, about 59 percent were Democratic and 41 percent were Republican. In Halifax the split was nearly even: 812 Democratic ballots and 733 Republican.
It also shows up in November. The 12th Plymouth House district, which covers Kingston, Plympton and part of Halifax, has been decided by fewer than 2,000 votes in each of the last two elections. Rep. Kathleen LaNatra (D-Kingston) defeated Republican Eric Meschino by 1,836 votes in 2022 and by 1,708 votes in 2024. The two meet again this year.
That matters for Question 3, because much of the case for it is built on a statewide problem — one-party districts where November is a formality — that looks different here.
In most of this year’s local races, Question 3 would have produced the same November ballot.
12th Plymouth (Kingston, Plympton, part of Halifax): LaNatra and Meschino were each unopposed in their primaries. Under a top-two system, both would have advanced. Same November matchup.
6th Plymouth (the rest of Halifax): Rep. Kenneth Sweezey (R-Duxbury) and Democrat Jessica Bradley Rushing were each unopposed. Same result.
Plymouth & Barnstable Senate (Kingston, Plympton): Sen. Dylan Fernandes (D-Falmouth) and Republican Kari MacRae were each unopposed. Same result.
2nd Plymouth & Norfolk Senate (Halifax): Sen. Michael Brady (D-Brockton) was the only candidate who filed. On Halifax’s Republican ballots, 703 of 733 voters left the state Senate line blank because there was no one to vote for. Question 3 would not have added a name. It changes how candidates are sorted, not whether anyone runs.
The clearest local example is the one race on the September ballot that Silver Lake region voters actually contested.
Three Republicans — incumbent Commissioner Sandra Wright of Bridgewater, former commissioner Anthony O’Brien of Pembroke, and former Rockland Selectman Korey Welch — ran for a Plymouth County Commission seat. Democrat Rhonda Nyman of Hanover was unopposed for her party’s nomination.
O’Brien won the Republican primary with 13,295 votes. Only 33,060 Republican ballots were cast across all of Plymouth County, a county of roughly 420,000 registered voters. In Halifax, Kingston, and Plympton, O’Brien drew 882 votes to Wright’s 509 and Welch’s 266.
The 2,766 Silver Lake voters who took a Democratic ballot had no say in that race. Neither did any unenrolled voter who wanted a voice in the Markey–Moulton contest, which appeared only on the Democratic ballot.
Under Question 3, all four commissioner candidates would have appeared on one ballot in front of every voter. Nyman, as the only Democrat, would very likely have finished in the top two. The question of which Republican joined her would have been decided by the full primary electorate rather than a Republican-only one.
The same logic applies to governor. In Halifax, Mike Minogue beat Brian Shortsleeve 590 to 139 on the Republican ballot. Under Question 3, both of their tickets would have been on the same ballot as Gov. Maura Healey’s, before every voter.
Supporters, led by the Coalition for Healthy Democracy, argue that the current system asks too much of the 70 percent of local voters who belong to neither party.
Selecting a party ballot does not enroll an unenrolled voter in that party. But it does force them to give up every contested race on the other party’s ballot. On Sept. 1, voters faced exactly that tradeoff: a Senate primary on one side, a county commission and governor’s primary on the other. Danielle Allen, the Harvard professor who chairs the Yes campaign, argues that under Question 3 every voter would weigh in on every contested race.
Supporters also point to how few people are deciding. Turnout across the three towns on Sept. 1 was about 23 percent. LaNatra’s uncontested Democratic primary drew 5,816 ballots districtwide, about one-fifth of the 28,775 cast in the district’s 2024 general election. When a race is truly decided in September, they argue, it is decided by a small and unrepresentative slice of voters.
They also argue that a guaranteed two-candidate November would encourage challengers to run against long-serving incumbents. Jesse Littlewood, the campaign’s manager, told Boston.com: “When they don’t have to compete for our votes, they don’t have a need to listen to us.” State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, former Gov. Deval Patrick and former Gov. Charlie Baker, who endorsed the measure this week, have backed it, along with former Massachusetts Republican Party chair Jennifer Nassour.
Research from California, which adopted a similar system in 2010, offers the supporters’ strongest evidence. A 2026 study found that in safe districts, the winners who emerged from same-party November races had been chosen by about 34 percent of registered voters, compared with about 11 percent under the old party primaries.
Opponents — an unusual coalition that includes both the Massachusetts Democratic and Republican parties, the AFL-CIO, teachers’ unions, and progressive groups organized as Voter Rights MA — argue that the measure would narrow November choices rather than widen them.
The local example they would point to is 2022. That year, the 12th Plymouth race had three names in November: LaNatra, Meschino and unenrolled candidate Charles McCoy Jr., who drew 856 votes. Under Question 3, only two candidates can appear on the November ballot. An independent or third-party candidate would have to finish in the top two in September to be seen by the much larger November electorate. Research by Richard Winger of Ballot Access News found that in California and Washington, no minor-party candidate had reached a November ballot in a race where both major parties fielded a candidate.
Opponents also say the current system is not as closed as the Yes campaign suggests, because unenrolled voters can already choose either ballot. “It’s a solution in search of a problem,” Massachusetts Democratic Party chair Steve Kerrigan told Boston.com. MassGOP chair Amy Carnevale has said the measure would erode the ability of parties to choose their own nominees and “amplify the role of big money.”
Opponents argue that candidates would have to run two broad, expensive campaigns instead of one, putting candidates without wealthy backers at a disadvantage. And they cite research finding that when voters see two candidates of the other party in November, many skip the race entirely.
Locally, Sen. Fernandes, whose district includes Kingston and Plympton, is among the elected officials who have endorsed a no vote.
Political scientists have also found little evidence for one of the most common claims made for systems like this one — that they produce more moderate lawmakers. Studies of California and Washington have found effects that are small, inconsistent, or absent.
Question 3 is the most lopsided money fight on the November ballot.
The Coalition for Healthy Democracy had raised about $5.1 million and spent about $4.8 million as of its Sept. 4 report to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Most of that money came from executives in private equity and investment firms. Donors giving $100,000 or more in 2026 included:
Counting contributions since 2025, the Boston Globe reports that David Peeler, formerly with Berkshire Partners, has given more than $1 million and Andrew Balson, Managing Partner at Cove Hill, nearly $800,000.
The opposition committee, Voter Rights MA, had raised about $35,000 and spent $8,000. Its money came from two sources: $25,000 from the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee and $10,000 from SEIU Local 509’s political committee.
A yes vote would replace party primaries with a single all-party primary beginning in 2028, with the top two finishers advancing to November regardless of party.
A no vote would keep the current system, in which Democrats and Republicans vote in their own party’s primary and unenrolled voters may choose one party’s ballot.
Because Question 3 is a statute rather than a constitutional amendment, the Legislature could amend or repeal it before it takes effect in 2028.