======================================================================== CITY 360 CAMBRIDGE — PETITION PREPARATION PACKET Citywide initiative or referendum — reference material, not a filing ======================================================================== City 360 prepares material. It does not file petitions, does not collect or count signatures, does not verify voter registrations and is not a channel to any City office. Everything on this page is a copy of what an official body has published. You file with that body yourself, and its own requirements are the ones that decide the outcome. Sources last read: 2026-08-15 What this route can change A citywide initiative asks the City Council to pass a measure, and a referendum asks that a measure already passed be reconsidered or put to the voters. Both are creatures of the City Charter, and Cambridge’s charter is currently changing. Filed with Cambridge Election Commission and the Office of the City Clerk Who may file [MISSING] Cambridge Election Commission — who may start a citywide initiative or referendum under the Charter now in force. Cambridge voters accepted a new City Charter at the November 4, 2025 municipal election, and the Commission’s charter page still describes the text as proposed ======================================================================== Requirements ======================================================================== What changed At the November 4, 2025 municipal election, Cambridge voters were asked “Shall an Act Establishing a new Charter for the City of Cambridge be accepted?” The Election Commission’s official results record 18,414 Yes, 5,899 No and 1,039 blank, from 25,352 ballots. Source: 2025 Municipal Election Official Results — Cambridge Election Commission — https://www.cambridgema.gov/departments/electioncommission/news/2025/11/2025municipalelectionofficialresultsnovember14thupdate Signatures required [MISSING] Cambridge Election Commission — the number or percentage of registered voters required to bring a citywide initiative or referendum petition, under the Charter now in force. No figure is stated here because quoting a threshold from a charter that may have been superseded would send residents to gather the wrong number of signatures Time limits [MISSING] Cambridge Election Commission — the period within which signatures must be gathered and filed, and the deadline for a referendum after the measure it concerns is passed Certification [MISSING] Cambridge Election Commission — how signatures are certified, what a signature sheet must contain, and how many sheets a petition may be spread across Charter in force [MISSING] Cambridge Election Commission and the City Solicitor — the effective date of the accepted Charter and which petition provisions apply before and after it ======================================================================== What happens after filing ======================================================================== Process [MISSING] Cambridge Election Commission — the steps that follow the filing of a certified citywide petition, and the body that acts at each one ======================================================================== Evidence checklist ======================================================================== [ ] The exact change you are asking for Written as the decision the body would actually take, not as the problem you want solved. A reader should be able to tell whether the petition succeeded. [ ] The body that can grant it Confirm that the office you are filing with has the power to make this change. A petition sent to a body that cannot act produces no result and no explanation. [ ] The area affected Addresses, parcels or district boundaries, stated precisely enough that someone else could draw the same line. [ ] The rule as it stands today Quote the current text or map designation and cite where it is published, so the change you propose can be read against it. [ ] The records behind each claim For every factual statement, the publisher, the document, the date on the document and the date you retrieved it. A claim without a retrievable source is an opinion in the wrong place. [ ] Any number you use, and its method State what was counted, over what period, from which dataset. If a figure is estimated or modelled, say so where it appears rather than in a footnote. [ ] The strongest argument against Stated fairly, with the evidence for it. A petition that does not survive contact with the opposing case will not survive the hearing either. [ ] Signer details in the required form Where a route requires registered voters, collect the details that office asks for. Confirm the format with the office before gathering signatures, not after. [ ] A named contact who will answer One person, reachable by telephone and email, who can respond to questions from staff and from the public between filing and the hearing. [ ] A decision about what becomes public Assume that everything filed may be published, including names and addresses. Tell every signer that before they sign. ======================================================================== Author and sponsor attribution ======================================================================== Author (required) The person or people who wrote the petition text. Full names, as they will appear on the filing. ____________________ Contact person (required) One named person, with street address, telephone number and email, who answers questions about the petition. ____________________ Sponsors (required) Every organisation, group or elected member publicly supporting the petition, named in full. Abbreviations and initials are not attribution. ____________________ Funding and paid help (required) Anyone paid to draft, circulate, advise on or promote the petition, and who paid them. State “none” where that is the answer. ____________________ Property and financial interest (required) Any interest an author or sponsor holds in land, a business or a contract affected by the change being asked for. ____________________ Relationship to the affected area (optional) Resident, owner, tenant, employee, abutter or none of these. Standing is not a requirement everywhere, but stating it is honest. ____________________ ======================================================================== Official pages ======================================================================== Proposed Charter — Cambridge Election Commission https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/electioncommission/proposedcharter 2025 Municipal Election Official Results — Cambridge Election Commission https://www.cambridgema.gov/departments/electioncommission/news/2025/11/2025municipalelectionofficialresultsnovember14thupdate City Clerk’s Office — City of Cambridge https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/cityclerksoffice ======================================================================== City 360 does not file petitions ======================================================================== City 360 prepares material. It does not file petitions, does not collect or count signatures, does not verify voter registrations and is not a channel to any City office. Everything on this page is a copy of what an official body has published. You file with that body yourself, and its own requirements are the ones that decide the outcome. If a requirement here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it and record the change. Confirm every requirement with the filing office before you file.