Does self-funding give candidates a leg up in the competition, or risk alienating supporters and potential constituents? The post Massachusetts GOP gubernatorial candidates are bankrolling their own campaigns.

Pollsters that meet at least two of the three criteria below are considered “select pollsters” by The Times, as long as they are conducting polls for nonpartisan sponsors. Has a track record of accuracy in recent elections Is a member of a professional polling organization Conducts probability-based sampling

A proposal to convert Massachusetts’s state primary elections to “all-party primaries” is inching closer to appearing on the November ballot.

Source: Polls collected by The New York Times. Pollsters that meet at least two of the three criteria below are considered “select pollsters” by The Times, as long as they are conducting polls for nonpartisan sponsors.

Several proposed ballot questions are of interest to Cape Codders, including housing initiatives and a conservation fund that would protect water.

If the Legislature chooses not to pass a proposed law by May 5, organizers can collect additional signatures to place the question on the ballot in November.

Massachusetts election officials have scheduled a hearing to investigate a complaint challenging the signature gathering process for a proposed ballot initiative to roll back the state’s marijuana law.