There will be three questions on ballots across the state on Tues., Nov. 6, asking voters to make binding policy decisions on nurse staff levels in hospitals, corporate political donations, and the protection of our transgender neighbors against discrimination.

But residents in parts of Dorchester and Mattapan will have extra work to do at the polls that day: Depending on where you live, there will be one or two non-binding questions at the end of the ballot.

Residents in the First Suffolk Senate district will encounter Question 4, which is about the costs of higher education. It reads as follows: “Shall the state senator from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation to freeze public higher education tuition and all associated costs for in-state students for five years and to begin to study achieving debt-free public higher education?”

In the 13th Suffolk district, Dorchester People for Peace submitted the following, which will appear as Question 5: “Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of a racial justice resolution supporting full and equal access for all Massachusetts families regardless of race or income, to affordable housing, good schools, adequate food, quality healthcare, and living-wage jobs; and an end to the disproportionate targeting of African Americans by the criminal justice system for stops, arrests, incarceration, and killings of unarmed people?”

The 13th Suffolk includes parts of Savin Hill, Jones Hill, Neponset, and Port Norfolk, as well as sections of St. Mark’s and Codman Square.
According to Becky Pierce, an organizer with Dorchester People for Peace, volunteers from the organization spent part of their summer knocking on doors in the district to get the necessary 200 signatures and to raise awareness about the issues addressed by the question.

“In the last four years, we’ve been doing street outreach in Neponset, Savin Hill, and Adams Village, for white members to talk to white people in those communities about racial profiling and systemic racism, to raise awareness and promote conversation and people thinking about these issues,” Pierce explained.

The full text of all the ballot questions— and the long list of elected positions that will appear on the November ballot— may be found at WhereDoIVoteMA.com.

– Bill Forry