As the clock struck 4 a.m. Wednesday, four of the five questions on the Massachusetts ballot had been asked by The Associated Press.

On Question 1, voters chose to grant the auditor the power to audit the state Legislature.

On Question 2, voters said “yes” to eliminating the MCAS exam as a standard graduation requirement for Mass students.

On Question 4, voters chose to keep psychedelics illegal statewide.

On Question 5, voters decided not to raise the state wage.

The race for Question 3, which will determine whether rideshare drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft can unionize, was leaning toward a “yes” vote but had not yet been called.

Question 1

Massachusetts voters on Tuesday decidedly demanded more transparency in the state’s notoriously opaque legislative process. With more than half of the votes counted, the campaign to allow the state auditor to audit the Legislature came in first with 71% of the vote Tuesday night.

Question 1 gives the state auditor – who is currently Diana DiZoglio – the ability to audit the state Legislature. The auditor has the capacity to audit all other state entities, but Parliament has refused to be audited. State Attorney General Andrea Campbell ruled last year that under current law DiZoglio could not audit the Legislature without consent. So DiZoglio decided to change the law here, and she succeeded.

DiZoglio is a former state legislator herself, and she campaigned on this issue when she was running for auditor. She addressed her supporters Tuesday night, telling them that when they come together, there is power there.

“The power to demand access, transparency, fairness and accountability from our government,” she said. “The power to know how our tax dollars are spent by those we elect to represent us. The power to ensure that the sun shines into every hall of state government.

State lawmakers argued that because the auditor is an executive branch official, allowing him to conduct an audit without legislative consent would violate the separation of powers.

It seems that voters weren’t too worried about it. But even with the passage of this ballot question, it’s an issue that experts say could still end up in court.

Professor Jeremy Paul of Northeastern University Law School said Tuesday evening that the auditor plans to go well beyond just auditing the books, to examine the legislature’s internal deliberations, such as how where it was decided who would sit on certain commissions.

“And what concerns me — and ultimately I think this will end up in court — is that when you put an independent official above the legislature, they’re going to be looking over their shoulder. “If I do something the auditor doesn’t like, he or she will suddenly come after me with a massive request for documents and interfere with my ability to do my job. »

Question 2

The campaign behind the vote
question 2 Eliminating the tenth-grade MCAS exam as a graduation requirement was approved by voters early Wednesday morning. Massachusetts is now one of the few states without a Common Core Graduation Standard.

Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Deb McCarthy addressed supporters Tuesday evening before the union’s victory.

“We are determined to defend our victory and we will not let anyone take it from us. The people have spoken and we will be united, protecting the winning second issue.

Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page says union members, volunteers and their canvassing efforts are to be thanked for the victory.

“Think about where this started last summer and then collected an unprecedented number of signatures, 130,000 in the fall, another 40,000 in the spring. Incredible, incredible sign of support. And now we’re seeing it in the way people vote.

This change means school districts across the state can now set their own graduation criteria.

Page says the measure will come into effect immediately. This means that passing the MCAS will not be a graduation requirement for high school students this spring.

Question 3

Question 3 would allow rideshare drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft to form unions and lobby for better wages and working conditions. Several unions such as local 32BJ support this measure. Some opponents say it could increase the cost of travel. This measure would not apply to other gig workers like DoorDash and InstaCart.

Question 4

The campaign behind Question 4 to legalize psychedelics conceded defeat Tuesday night, but The Associated Press has not yet called the race.

“We spoke to tens of thousands of Massachusetts voters and heard broad consensus that natural psychedelics should be more accessible to those who cannot find relief through traditional medications and therapy,” wrote Aayush Bajpai of the “Yes on 4” campaign in a statement Tuesday. “(We) have made extremely important progress on this issue of psychedelic therapy, and we will continue to fight to find new pathways for all those who struggle with mental health.”

Imani Turnbull Brown said that regardless of how other efforts move forward, she hopes leaders of the psychedelic movement will consider factors such as racial history and culture.

“We’re pursuing what we want to do, which is education, harm reduction, all those things for marginalized groups,” she said. “We just want to make sure people are informed.” »

Question 5

Opponents of a statewide ballot measure to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers in Massachusetts have declared victory. With more than 70 percent of the votes counted, the Associated Press called the “no” race at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday.

The proposal would have gradually increased the minimum wage for tipped workers in the Commonwealth from the current rate of $6.75 per hour to the regular minimum wage of $15. With the “no” vote, the state wage will remain at $6.75 an hour.

“We keep the power in the hands of individual servers and bartenders who work tirelessly day in and day out to serve customers across the Commonwealth to the best of their abilities,” Nancy Caswell, treasurer of Massachusetts Restaurants United, said in a statement .

Steven Rosario, who has worked in the service sector for five years, campaigned for a “yes” vote. Despite the defeat, he says their fight is not over.

“I mean, we’re trying again,” Rosario said. “We are not giving up. Even if it’s 10 or 20 years later, we’re still going to try, and it doesn’t stop there.

The measure faced fierce opposition from restaurants who argued that raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses and could lead to closures.

Saru Jayaraman is co-founder and president of One Fair Wage, which organized the “Yes on 5” campaign. She said that although the measure failed, she was proud of the work her group did to raise awareness about the sub-minimum wage paid to tipped workers.

“What this campaign has done, regardless of the outcome tonight, is it has actually raised the issue so that so many people in Massachusetts are aware that subminimum wage exists.” , she said. “The opposition spent millions of dollars spreading disinformation, as they always do, but they actually helped us, because in many ways it was millions of dollars of free publicity to get the word out to the people of Massachusetts that there was this problem.”

An earlier report by Meghan Smith of GBH News was used in this story.