Marijuana ban opponents outspend open primary backers in Massachusetts ballot race

Spending on the initiative to eliminate the recreational marijuana industry has overtaken the open primary question as the most expensive ballot measure in Massachusetts. Total expenditures for Question 8 reached nearly $6.5 million by October 15, according to the latest campaign finance reports. This figure exceeds the $5.9 million spent on Question 3, which seeks to open party primaries to all voters.

Opponents of the marijuana ban have spent more than $2.8 million to urge voters to reject the measure. This amount is more than double the combined spending on both sides of the 2024 gun control law debate. The campaign against the initiative is heavily centralized. More than $3.7 million of the funding supporting the ban comes from a single source: SAM Action Inc., a Virginia-based nonprofit dedicated to opposing the recreational marijuana industry.

SAM Action’s contribution is nearly double that of any other single entity supporting a specific ballot question this cycle. The second largest contributor is Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance, a business coalition that has provided $1.9 million in in-kind contributions. Those resources primarily support the campaign to reform the state’s tax limit and rebate formula.

Total spending across all nine state ballot questions surpassed $25 million by the October 15 reporting deadline. This total includes both direct expenditures and in-kind contributions. The figure remains well below the record $70 million spent on four ballot questions in 2022. However, spending typically concentrates in the weeks immediately preceding an election, leaving room for 2026 totals to rise further.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to deploy federal election monitors to polling centers in Boston and Lowell on November 3. State election officials confirmed the deployment, which mirrors actions taken during the September primary. Justice Department officials describe the practice as routine, aiming to ensure compliance with voting rights laws in areas with high populations of non-English speakers and voters with disabilities.

Deb O’Malley, a spokesperson for Secretary of State William Galvin, explained that the two cities have complex language requirements. In Lowell, ballots are available in English, Spanish, and Khmer. In Boston, ballots are bilingual with three distinct versions: Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese. The Justice Department intends to station 1,000 election monitors nationwide on election day, a figure that more than doubles the number deployed during the 2022 midterm elections under President Joe Biden, when fewer than 400 monitors were sent.

The nonpartisan monitoring program has existed across multiple presidential administrations. It drew attention during the 2026 primaries following an incident in Wyoming where Governor Mark Gordon described the conduct of two federal monitors as aggressive. O’Malley stated that federal law allows monitors to observe the general election process from a designated area, take notes, and listen, but prohibits them from viewing individual ballots or speaking with election workers or voters.