2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XX - Public Safety and Good Order › Chapter 138 - Alcoholic Liquors › Section 11 - Questions to Be Placed on Ballot at Biennial State Election

Section 11. Except as hereinafter provided, the state secretary shall cause to be placed on the official ballot used in the cities and towns at each biennial state election the following subdivided question:
A. Shall licenses be granted in this city (or town) for the sale therein of all alcoholic beverages (whisky, rum, gin, malt beverages, wines and all other alcoholic beverages)?
B. Shall licenses be granted in this city (or town) for the sale therein of wines and malt beverages (wines and beer, ale and all other malt beverages)?
C. Shall licenses be granted in this city (or town) for the sale therein of all alcoholic beverages in packages, so called, not to be drunk on the premises?
D. Shall licenses be granted in this city (or town) for the sale of all alcoholic beverages by hotels having a dining room capacity of not less than ninety-nine persons and lodging capacity of not less than fifty rooms?
If a majority of the votes cast in a city or town in answer to subdivision A is in the affirmative, such city or town shall, irrespective of the result of the votes in answer to subdivisions B, C, and D be taken to have authorized, for the two calendar years next succeeding, the retail sale in such city or town of all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on and off the premises where sold, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
If a majority of the votes cast in a city or town in answer to subdivisions A, C, and D is not in the affirmative, but a majority thereof in answer to subdivision B is in the affirmative, such city or town shall be taken to have authorized, for said calendar years, the retail sale therein of wines and malt beverages only to be drunk on and off the premises where sold, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
If a majority of the votes cast in a city or town in answer to subdivisions A, B, and D is not in the affirmative, but a majority thereof in answer to subdivision C is in the affirmative, such city or town shall be taken to have authorized, for said calendar years, the retail sale therein of all alcoholic beverages but only in packages, so called, not to be drunk on the premises where sold, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
If a majority of the votes cast in a city or town in answer to subdivisions A and D is not in the affirmative, but a majority thereof in answer to subdivisions B and C is in the affirmative, such city or town shall be taken to have authorized, for said calendar years, the retail sale therein of wines and malt beverages to be drunk on and off the premises where sold, and also the sale of all other alcoholic beverages but only in packages, so called, not to be drunk on the premises where sold, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
If a majority of the votes cast in a city or town in answer to subdivisions A, B, and C is not in the affirmative, but a majority thereof in answer to subdivision D is in the affirmative, such city or town shall be taken to have authorized, for said calendar years, the retail sale therein of all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on premises of hotels having a dining room capacity of not less than ninety-nine persons and lodging capacity of not less than fifty rooms, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
Except as hereinafter provided, upon receipt of a petition signed by the registered voters of any city or town equal in number to at least ten per cent of the number of voters registered therein at the last preceding city or town election, requesting the insertion on the ballot at a biennial state election of the following subdivision, the state secretary shall cause to be placed on the ballot at the next succeeding biennial state election held not less than sixty days subsequent to the filing of such petition and at each biennial state election thereafter, the following subdivision:
E. Shall licenses be granted in this city (or town) for the sale therein of alcoholic beverages by restaurants and function rooms having a seating capacity of not less than one hundred person?
In any city or town which has been authorized to vote on a subdivision designated as E or F, the subdivision authorized by this paragraph shall be designated subdivision F or G, as the case may be. The petition authorized herein shall be subject to the provisions of section seven of chapter fifty-three.
The state secretary shall not cause any subdivision of the foregoing question, including a subdivision required by the provisions of any special act, to be placed on the ballot at any biennial state election in any city or town in which the voters in response to such subdivision have voted in the affirmative three consecutive times or in the negative three consecutive times, beginning with the biennial state election in the year nineteen hundred and sixty-six, unless there has been filed with said secretary, not later than the sixtieth day before the election at which such subdivision is to be submitted, a petition, the forms for which may be obtained from said secretary, signed by a number of voters of the city or town at least equal to ten per cent of the total number of voters registered at the last preceding city or town election. Such petitions shall be subject to the provisions of section seven of chapter fifty-three relative to the identification and certification of signatures and the time of submission to registrars.