Joining voters statewide, Hampshire County residents approved a measure legalizing marijuana and shot down a proposal to speed the growth of public charter schools.
After heated debate over whether additional charters would help or hurt the state’s education system, only about 26 percent of Hampshire County residents voted in favor of lifting the charter cap, versus about 37 percent statewide. About 63 percent of Hampshire County voters approved the measure legalizing marijuana, versus about 53 percent statewide.
The marijuana measure — which legalizes the sale, use and limited cultivation by adults for recreation— takes effect in steps beginning Dec. 15. It creates a Cannabis Control Commission to regulate what is expected to be a rapidly growing industry bringing issues including impaired driving and use by youths under 21.
The charter measure would have allowed the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to approve up to 12 new or expanded charter schools statewide each year.
Voters also overwhelmingly approved a measure prohibiting the sale of eggs and some meat produced by animals kept in cages that don’t allow the animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs or turn around freely.
Additionally, voters rejected a law that would have allowed the Gaming Commission to license one additional slot parlor in eastern Massachusetts.
“We have had a very robust and substantive debate on Question 2. The voters have spoken and the matter is resolved,” said Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, who had opposed the expansion. “It’s time to shift our focus to 100 percent of the students in our public education system. They deserve the best education possible so they can be engaged citizens and find a meaningful place in our increasingly competitive economy.”
At the polls on Tuesday, many voters voiced their opposition to charters, echoing those who say the schools draw cash from already-struggling public schools.
Kris Machnik, 48, a former schoolteacher in Holyoke and Springfield, spent part of her Election Day at her fifth-grade son’s school, Jackson Street Elementary in Northampton.
Machnik was manning a bake sale in the school’s foyer as voters came and went from the gymnasium, which is a polling place for Ward 1 residents.
Machnik said she was vehemently opposed opening the door to more charter schools.
“(Students) shouldn’t have to go to another school to realize what they don’t have,” she said.
Another volunteer, Mary Clark, 54, agreed.
“I feel our public school system is at stake,” she said. “If you really, really wanted really great schools, the state would pay for them. As it is, our schools are underfunded, teachers’ pensions are underfunded, teachers have had to continue to give up things. So adding more quote-unquote competition without adding more money in the system isn’t the way to make things better.”
UMass students interviewed by the Gazette on Tuesday supported the measure legalizing marijuana in the commonwealth. They were not alone.
“Legal marijuana would do more good for the economy than harm to public safety,” said Rachael Flynn, 21.
Others said it would allow them to do legally what many already do.
“I wanna be able to smoke weed,” said UMass student Joseph Carstairs, adding that he enjoyed visiting marijuana coffee shops when he visited Amsterdam. “They make people sit down and talk to each other.”
Opponents argued that legalizing marijuana could make it easier for children to get hooked on the drug, particularly packaged as candies or other edible products. Some also worried that marijuana could serve as a gateway to harder drugs and that operating under the influence could prove difficult to enforce.
Residents of the commonwealth voted to decriminalize the substance in 2008, and then voted to establish medical marijuana dispensaries in 2012. The same year, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana consumption for adults.
Proponents of Question 4 said it would bring the approximately 885,000 people in Massachusetts who buy black market marijuana into the light, allowing them to buy healthier and more reliable products. They also said it would free up law enforcement to deal with other crime, and that taxing marijuana could be an economic boon. Colorado, the first state to begin selling legal marijuana, raised more than $80 million in marijuana taxes during 2015, according to the state’s records.
Adam Hazel, owner of The Vault on Main Street in Northampton, said marijuana is shaping up to be a big business.
“Marijuana is a commodity and it’s going to be banging on Wall Street.”
About 74 percent of Hampshire County residents voted against the ballot question that would have allowed for one additional slot parlor, versus about 61 percent statewide. Some at the polls on Tuesday said there was no point in increasing the number of “addictive” gambling spaces.
UMass student Mike Hagerty, 22, said the Plainville casino has not been good for his hometown of Norfolk, creating problems including traffic jams.
“It hasn’t benefited my town at all,” he said. “I just don’t like the idea of gambling, as well.”
About 76 percent of Hampshire County voters approved a measure that requires farmers provide more space for hens and some other livestock, just short of of 78 percent statewide approval rate. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2022; it will directly affect one Franklin County egg farm but could have a broader effect of raising egg prices at grocery stores.
Many on Tuesday said it was easy to decide to let more livestock spread their wings.
“I think it’s just a matter of decency,” said Zach Rom, 24, a deli employee at State Street Fruit Store in Northampton. “We’re human beings. We can do better.”
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com. Michael Majchrowicz can be contacted at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.