Massachusetts voters gave their approval Tuesday to a ballot question that would give state Auditor Diana DiZoglio the right to audit her former colleagues in the state Legislature.
They also rejected a question that would have boosted wages for tipped workers.
The “yes” vote on the auditing ballot question had 71.5% support, compared to 28.5% for the “no” vote, The Associated Press reported, citing unofficial tallies.
“The legislative process at the State House is completely broken. Today’s victory shows that the people of Massachusetts want more transparency and accountability from their leaders in state government,” Paul Craney, of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, which supported the auditing push, said in a statement.
But voters still might not have the final word. Senior legislative leaders have held out the possibility of changing, or even repealing it, MassLive previously reported.
Voters rejected the tipped wage question 64%-36%, The Associated Press reported.
In a statement, the Employment Policies Institute declared victory on the ballot question for tipped workers.
Unofficial tallies from the Associated Press showed the “no” campaign leading the “yes” campaign 64.3% to 35.7%, with 60.2% of the vote counted.
“This is a resounding win for tipped workers, and reflects a huge year of wins for tipped workers across the country,” Rebekah Paxton, the research director at the Employment Policies Institute said in an email. “ … Proposals to eliminate the tip credit across the country have been shot down by bipartisan coalitions of employees and lawmakers. The result shows voters are listening to the vast majority of tipped workers who say they prefer the tip credit system.”
A “yes” vote on this question would authorize gradually increasing the wage for tipped workers (now $6.75 an hour) until it meets the state’s $15-an-hour minimum wage by 2029. It would still permit tipping in addition to the minimum wage.
A “no” vote would leave the wage structure untouched.
Other ballot questions still remained unsettled in the early hours of Wednesday morning, including one that would scrap the MCAS examination as a high school graduation requirement.
The “yes” vote on the MCAS question had 58.6% support, while the “yes” vote on a question allowing ride-share drivers to unionize had 53.9% support, The Associated Press reported.
The “no” vote was ahead, with 56.5% support, on a question calling for the limited legalization of some naturally occurring psychedelic substances, as of early Wednesday morning.
