Want to politically stir things up in Massachusetts? Create really competitive races for a change? Throw out members of an ossified party that’s dominated Beacon Hill since Dwight Eisenhower was president in 1959? Then vote ‘yes’ on Question 3, the ballot measure that would replace the current party primary system in Massachusetts with a California-like ‘all-party primary’ system. … Another reason to vote ‘yes’ on Question 3? Nearly the entire political establishment in Massachusetts opposes the measure, as Commonwealth Beacon reports. Of course political parties and their factions are against eliminating party primaries. They’d lose their current monopoly over the election process if partisan primaries went away. … 

Btw: I harped on this topic earlier this year. I’ll repeat: Open non-party primaries are not the cure-all, that’s for sure. But they’re a hell of a lot better than the current flawed system in which three out of five House and Senate races have only one candidate on the ballot.

Btw II: David D’Alessandro agrees the system needs a major shakeup (“Massachusetts has an aging problem. It’s called Beacon Hill” – Globe) but favors term limits to throw the 70-something rascals out. I like term limits too. But it’s an idea that’s been debated for years – and gone nowhere. Question 3 is right here, right now. … 

Btw III: GBH’s Saraya Wintersmith recently talked with Danielle Allen, chair of the Coalition for Healthy Democracy, about why she backs Question 3.

Update – 8.24.26 – From MassLive: “Mass. voters like most ballot questions. Marijuana repeal? Not so much.” … Question 3 has only a slim majority of support, the same poll finds (scroll down). … Good to see the single-family zoning question doing well.

Update II – 8.24.26 – In a podcast, Commonwealth Beacon reviews the pluses and minuses of non-partisan primaries in California. … It’s definitely shaken things up, but it’s not as radical a change as one might think. One change I really like: it’s pushed candidates’ views to the center, not the extremes, as is the case in partisan primaries.

Update III — 8.27.26 – From the Globe: “For thousands of Mass. voters, the parties are over.”