马萨诸塞州第7号公投案被否决 50.6%反对小地块建房
马萨诸塞州消息，美联社11月6日下午确认，马萨诸塞州选民以微弱多数否决了第7号公投案，反对票占50.6%，赞成票占49.4%，两派相差32322票，总投票数超过250万张。这是本次选举九项全州公投案中最后一项尘埃落定的议案，当时已有97%的选区完成计票。第7号公投案提议修改州分区法第40A章，在除波士顿市以外的全州范围内设定5000平方英尺的独栋住宅最小地块面积，以绕过不少城镇更为严格的地块面积限制，方便建造更小、更便宜的独栋住房。投票结果与选前民调大相径庭，马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校与WCVB电视台选前民调曾显示65%的可能选民支持该案，仅21%反对。同一批公投案中，第5号公投案已于11月5日下午确认未获通过，马萨诸塞州将不改变预算盈余时退税的计算方式。第7号公投案的支持者认为放宽地块限制有助于缓解住房短缺，反对者则主张土地使用应由地方政府说了算，这场拉锯也折射出全州住房政策中地方控制与增加供给之间的长期分歧。
Massachusetts Voters Reject Ballot Question 7; 50.6% Vote No on Smaller Single-Family Lots
MASSACHUSETTS — The Associated Press confirmed on the afternoon of November 6 that Massachusetts voters narrowly rejected Ballot Question 7, with 50.6% voting no and 49.4% yes, a gap of 32,322 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast. It was the last of the election's nine statewide ballot questions to be settled, with 97% of precincts reporting at the time. Question 7 proposed amending Chapter 40A of the state zoning law to set a statewide minimum lot size of 5,000 square feet for single-family homes — everywhere except Boston — overriding stricter local lot-size rules to make smaller, cheaper houses easier to build. The result ran sharply against pre-election polling: a UMass Amherst/WCVB poll had shown 65% of likely voters in favor and only 21% opposed. In the same election, Question 5 was confirmed defeated on the afternoon of November 5, so Massachusetts will not change how it calculates tax refunds from budget surpluses. Supporters of Question 7 argued looser lot rules would ease the housing shortage; opponents said land use should be decided locally — a tug-of-war reflecting the state's long-running tension between local control and housing supply.
来源：美联社
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：波士顿马萨诸塞州议会大厦。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0。 / Photo: Massachusetts State House, Boston. Via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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