In November 2026, Massachusetts voters will vote on whether to convert to a top-two system. The Boston Globe has this article about which politicians support the idea and which oppose it. Unfortunately, the article fails to mention that the initiative, if passed, would make the state’s definition of a qualified party far more difficult. Top-two proponents never even seem to notice this flaw in most of their proposals.

Currently a group can be a qualified party if it polls 3% for any statewide race. It is fairly easy for a minor party to poll 3% for offices like Secretary of State, Auditor, or Treasurer. But if the initiative passes, those offices won’t count toward party status any more. If the initiative passes, the only way a group can be a qualified party would be to poll 3% for president, or to have approximately 50,000 registered voters. The latter provision, basing party status on registration, has been in the law since 1990 and has never been used successfully. As to polling 3% for president, it is very rare for any third party to ever poll 3% for president. The only third parties that have done that nationally in the last 100 years are the American Independent Party in 1968, the Reform Party in 1996, and the Libertarian Party in 2016.