Featured photo: A ballot box at a polling place (file photo). Photo: W.carter, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Associated Press called Massachusetts Question 5, the proposed state revenue limit and rebate change, as rejected on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 5, CommonWealth Beacon reported. Question 7, which would let single-family homes be built on smaller lots in communities with water and sewer, was still too close to call as of Friday, Nov. 6, with No ahead by about 1.2 percentage points in AP counts published by NBC Boston.
Related: Massachusetts Ballot Question Results 2026: All 9 Questions
What we know about Question 5
Question 5 would have changed the state’s tax revenue cap and rebate law, Chapter 62F, CommonWealth Beacon reported. With about 95% of the estimated vote counted, No led 52.02% to 47.98%, or 1,271,887 No votes, according to the AP figures on NBC Boston’s results page. CBS News Boston also reported that voters rejected the question.
The Yes campaign, Taxpayers for an Affordable Massachusetts, conceded Wednesday morning, before the AP call, CommonWealth Beacon reported. Harris Gruman, executive director of the SEIU Massachusetts State Council and a leader of the opposition, said voters “chose to protect critical state funding,” according to the same report.
Question 7: what the count shows
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the AP count on NBC Boston showed 1,238,237 No votes (50.59%) and 1,209,381 Yes votes (49.41%) with about 94% of the estimated vote in, a gap of 28,856 votes (TBR calculation). The AP had not projected a winner, and CBS News Boston reported there was still no projected winner as of Thursday afternoon.
The vote split sharply by place. Boston gave the measure nearly 120,000 Yes votes to 53,286 No votes, while Franklin County and the North Quabbin region leaned No by 954 votes, the State House News Service reported in a story published by the Greenfield Recorder. In Wellesley, 57% voted No, Banker & Tradesman reported. Banker & Tradesman also counted 75,683 more votes cast in the governor’s race than for or against Question 7 as of Wednesday evening.
What Question 7 would do
If it passes, Question 7 would bar local governments from requiring more than 5,000 square feet and 50 feet of street frontage for a single-family home on lots served by public water and sewer, according to CommonWealth Beacon. Boston is excluded, Boston.com reported. The measure does not set home sizes; those would be shaped by state regulations and local zoning, the State House News Service reported. Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis estimated about 750 new homes a year, according to the same report. For the campaign before the vote, see our earlier story on Mayor Wu and real estate groups on Question 7.
Andrew Mikula, who chairs the Yes on 7: Legalize Starter Homes campaign, told Boston.com the campaign “will wait until every vote is counted and results are finalized.”
What happens next
Mail-in and provisional ballots have until Friday, Nov. 6, to arrive at town and city halls to be counted, Banker & Tradesman reported. Any registered voter can petition for a recount on a ballot question, but state law requires the winning margin to be no more than 0.5% of the votes cast, Boston.com reported. On Thursday’s AP count, the Question 7 gap was about 1.2% of the Yes and No votes combined (TBR calculation), more than twice that threshold, though the final count could change it.
Results for all nine questions are unofficial until the state certifies them. The Boston Report does not call races or ballot questions; every result here was projected or reported by the outlet named. Follow the latest numbers on our Massachusetts Election Tracker, and see what a Yes or No vote does on each question. More state coverage is on our politics hub.
Sources
- NBC Boston: Massachusetts ballot question results show what voters decided
- CommonWealth Beacon (via The New Bedford Light): Mass. just tackled 9 ballot questions. Here’s where each landed, and what comes next
- CBS News Boston: Massachusetts ballot question results: Here’s what passed and what didn’t
- Boston.com: Mass. Question 7 remains too close to call as ballots are counted
Additional sources
- State House News Service (via Greenfield Recorder): Voters split down the middle as housing ballot question remains uncalled
- Banker & Tradesman: Starter Homes Backers Look to Mail-in Ballots to Close Gap
Read next in Boston Local News
MarketsBusiness Report: Dow Plunges 1,833 Points as Nasdaq Falls Into Correction on AI Rout, Nov. 5, 2026
Boston Local NewsBlackstone Commits $455 Million to Co-Fund Boston Scientific’s Vitalyst Heart Pump
Boston Local NewsOne Missed Deadline Costs English High Its Playoff Spot, and the City Council Unanimously Wants It Back
Most read this week
- Abdul El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood Claims: What’s Confirmed and What Isn’t
- Stock Futures Erase a 2.4% Overnight Drop as Markets Digest Democrats’ Sweep of Congress
- Spain Transport Minister Óscar Puente Quits 26 Days Before Election Over Crash That Killed 69
- GM Korea’s Sales Jump 26.6% on Chevrolet Exports as Hyundai Slips 6.3% and Korean Factory Growth Cools
- Boston Plans to Close 3 Schools in 2028 as Enrollment Drops as Much as 58%
Latest
- Iran Daily Briefing: November 6, 2026
- Iran Sends Nuclear Proposal via Qatar as Security Chief Carries Khamenei’s Message to Putin
- U.S. Hits Cuba Oil Network With Sanctions on 8 Entities and 5 Tankers
- Gulf States Condemn Houthi Missile Attempt Toward Saudi Madinah Region
- Poland Detains 6 Suspected of Spying for Russia, Shipping Ammo Parts