Single Payer Ballot Question Passes by Landslide in 10 Districts

In an election with extremely high voter turnout, a local ballot initiative supporting single payer and opposing individual mandates passed by landslide margins in all ten legislative districts where it appeared. With almost all precincts tallied, roughly 73 percent of 181,000 voters in the ten districts voted YES to this public advisory question:

"Shall the representative from this district be instructed
(1) to support legislation that would establish health care as a human right regardless of age, state of health or employment status, by creating a single payer health insurance system that is comprehensive, cost effective, and publicly provided to all residents of Massachusetts, and
(2) to oppose any laws penalizing the uninsured for failing to obtain health insurance."

Cape Care Coalition Nov 6, 2008 press release: Overwhelming Support for Health Care as a Human Right

[See also: In 2006, a Resolution in support of the "Cape Care" Universal Health Care Proposal was approved by 11 Towns]

The measure passed with margins ranging from 65 to 82 percent. Following are the results as reported by the Boston Globe, Nov. 5, 2008: