- 0:00
Flip a coin. That’s your odds of your state legislative race actually being contested in Massachusetts.1
- 0:07
Since 2014, 51% of races in this state — more than half — have had just ONE name on the ballot. No opponent. No debate. No choice.2
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Massachusetts ranks dead last in the country for electoral competitiveness.
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That’s not democracy, that’s your leaders being chosen for you.3
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And it’s not because good candidates don’t exist — it’s because the system makes it nearly impossible for a challenger to even get on the ballot in the first place.
- 0:38
So every two years, the same seats go back to the same people, and nobody has to explain a single vote. Voters show up… to rubber-stamp a decision that was already made for them.4
Parallax Partner Portal Lite script library (full text from the library's editor screen)
- 1
“Flip a coin” turns the statistic into odds a viewer can feel before a single number is said — the concrete, curiosity-first opening that won the randomized headline tests.
Upworthy archive, 32,487 headline tests - 2
The number lands in the second line and is repeated three ways — no opponent, no debate, no choice. A fact most viewers haven't heard is one of the few script choices that paid off on favorability. Parallax's 51% is kept verbatim; the returns PAX2 holds put it at 62.8% — 628 of the last 1,000 races.
In 432 tested ads, “Offers a fact the viewer likely hasn't heard” moved favorability +0.6 points (0.2 to 1.0).
Uncontested races 2014–2022 - 3
Anger on purpose: “chosen for you,” “rubber-stamp.” Angry ads ran ahead on favorability; on vote choice the tests can't tell.
In 432 tested ads, “Anger” moved favorability +0.6 points (-0.0 to 1.1).
- 4
The only script in the library that never asks for the vote — it ends on the bleak note instead. In the vote-choice tests, saying the ask outright was one of only two things that clearly worked, so a take that adds a final “vote yes on 3” is the obvious test.
In 574 tested ads, “Explicit ask to vote for” moved vote choice +0.6 points (0.2 to 1.0).
Ads coded like this one moved vote choice about 0.8 points (-0.8 to 2.3); the typical tested ad, 1.1. Style alone predicts little — which is why a script gets recorded and tested.
- Plain-folks appeal+0.8
- Text on screen−0.7
- Anger+0.4
- Contrast+0.3
- Somber+0.2
Both state parties and the AFL-CIO oppose Question 3; supporters include officials of both parties and the NAACP. Who’s for and against (WBUR)
- A top-two primary can leave two candidates of the same party in November
- Favors candidates who can fund their own campaigns
- Squeezes out third parties