Three Massachusetts Ballot Questions Set For November Election

Massachusetts voters will decide three questions on the November ballot, including one that asks whether anti-discrimination protections for transgender people should be kept in place. 

Secretary of State William Galvin on Monday assigned numbers to the questions after certifying that sponsors had completed all necessary steps to qualify for the ballot.

Question 1 calls for lower nurse-to-patient ratios at Massachusetts hospitals.

Question 2 would put Massachusetts voters on record as opposing the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that opened the door to greater political spending by corporations and labor unions.

Question 3 will be the referendum on the transgender anti-discrimination law ed by the legislature in 2016. Galvin said a "yes" vote is to keep the law, while a "no" vote is to repeal it.

Galvin said the order in which the questions are listed on the ballot doesn't make a big difference.

"If you had many more questions, it might, possibly, as people get wearier as they go down the list," he said. "But with three questions, it shouldn't be an issue." 

Several other questions, including one to raise the minimum wage, were pulled from the ballot after the state legislature struck the so-called "Grand Bargain" last month.

Adam Frenier contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press.