marijuana edibles campaign against legalization.jpg

Opponents of marijuana legalizations say edibles have become a large part of the market in Colorado, and warn kids could accidentally ingest them. (Courtesy of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts)

(Courtesy photo)

Four statewide ballot questions will appear on the Massachusetts ballot in November, relating to marijuana, gambling, farm animals and charter schools.

"All four questions got in and filed their signatures, and they all appear to have a surplus, so they will be on the ballot," said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin.

These are the final four questions out of 35 petitions that were originally introduced by citizens for either ballot questions or constitutional amendments.

The process by which ballot committees must collect tens of thousands of signatures has historically winnowed out most proposed ballot questions. The questions must be certified as constitutional by the attorney general, a process that can be appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, and must not be acted on by the Legislature. Wednesday was the deadline for ballot committees to submit their final 10,792 signatures to Galvin's office.

In 2014, there were four statewide ballot questions. In 2012, there were three.

The four questions that will appear this year are:

A question to legalize, regulate and tax recreational marijuana.

A question pushed by a private developer to allow a second slots parlor in Massachusetts, most likely at Suffolk Downs.

A question to expand access to charter schools by allowing the state to approve 12 new charter schools a year outside of an existing cap.

And a question to ban the confinement of egg-laying hens, calves raised for veal and breeding pigs and to ban the sale of eggs or meat from confined animals.

The next step is for Galvin to assign numbers to each question. The numbers determine the order of the questions on the ballot, and are most commonly used for slogans and bumper stickers.

A fifth question, to repeal the state's use of the Common Core education standards, was rejected by the Supreme Judicial Court last week.

One constitutional amendment -- to increase taxes on income over $1 million -- is still pending for potential consideration on the 2018 ballot.