Good Monday morning.

• We're looking at how voters can make their voices heard on Beacon Hill and how political stress has a way of following you to the workplace.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 67 and a low of 45.

Congrats to Friday's news quiz winners who who were the first to get 5/5 right:

• Bob Glynn, Trish Krantz, and Margo Ubele

🎵 Sounds like: "Touch" by KATSEYE, who play TD Garden on Wednesday.

Situational awareness: 🗳️ Massachusetts voters have until tomorrow to request a mail ballot for the Nov. 3 election.

• Boston has a 5pm deadline. In-person early voting continues through Friday.
• Check voting options.

Today's newsletter is 1,059 words — a 4-minute read.

Deehan here with Spill of the Hill, my column unraveling Massachusetts politics.

Few Massachusetts lawmakers have any competition in this year's election, but voters can still voice their dissatisfaction with the Legislature through the long list of ballot questions they need to weigh in on.

Why it matters: The initiative process lets citizens act when lawmakers won't.

• Since so few have the opportunity to vote against an incumbent, voters can hold them accountable nine times this November.

Ballot questions are coming at voters at a rate not seen in decades. Each of the nine lands squarely on the Legislature's turf: taxes, housing, transparency, elections and more.

The big picture: Two mechanisms are at work.

• Questions 1–8 are proposed laws.
• The House and Senate held hearings but didn't enact them, leaving supporters to gather signatures and get the questions on the ballot.
• Question 9 is a referendum to undo the 2024 firearms law the Legislature passed by wide margins.

State of play: Some lawmakers reject the suggestion that legislative inaction amounts to dysfunction.

• A committee majority recommended no action on Question 1, the proposal to bring the governor and Legislature under the public records law.
• The committee that said no cited separation-of-powers concerns raised in an April 27 Supreme Judicial Court advisory opinion.

Advocates see the problem differently.

• Tom McKeever, who represents public counsel employees, said state attorneys spent five or six legislative cycles unsuccessfully seeking collective bargaining rights, according to the State House News Service.
• That proposal is now Question 2.

Between the lines: The debate over ballot questions is ruffling feathers on Beacon Hill.

• Rep. Mike Day argued that an unsuccessful proposal doesn't necessarily mean the lawmaking process is broken.
• And House Speaker Ron Mariano has called the initiative process a "whole system fraught with peril."

By the numbers: Ballot campaigns received more than $21 million in contributions and in-kind donations this year through August. It's organized special interests, not just frustrated residents, who are funding the boom in ballot questions.

The bottom line

🚔 The Westboro police chief was placed on leave after the department said he was involved in an incident in a nearby town. (CBS News Boston)

🤖 Dozens of Boston Dynamics employees petitioned the company to halt the sale of its Spot robot dogs to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (WBUR)

• The company said the petition had about 300 signatures, nearly half anonymous.
• Interim CEO Amanda McMaster told staff the deal is going forward.
• It covers four robots at about $1.3 million. She said the government must prohibit weaponization or use for harm and intimidation.

🏥 State officials ordered Golden Pond, a Hopkinton assisted-living facility, to stop accepting new residents and fix violations. (Boston.com)

• The order followed the Sept. 30 death of an 86-year-old resident found in a 99-degree room.

A new study finds that all your stress about the state of politics is coming to work with you.

Why it matters: The political news you read or watch outside the office affects how you perform and act at work — even when you're not talking around the water cooler about the latest polling, per research from Texas A&M University.

Zoom in: A team of researchers followed more than 300 full-time U.S. employees during the 2024 presidential primary season over nine consecutive weeks.

• They found that weeks with more political information perceived by participants as negative were associated with higher anxiety and lower work engagement.
• The weeks in which political news was perceived as positive were associated with stronger engagement and more willingness to help co-workers.

Our newsroom helps you follow the people, decisions and stories shaping Boston — wherever they're happening.

Why it matters: Your membership supports the local reporting that keeps you informed, engaged and connected to the place you call home.

💪 Become an Axios Boston member today and help keep trusted local journalism strong.

Thanks for supporting the news that keeps you connected.

Catch KATSEYE and John Summit at TD Garden, celebrate Rocky Horror, hear from Ina Garten or explore free literary and cultural events around Boston this week.

Monday, 10/26

📚 Emily St. John Mandel at First Parish Church in Cambridge hosts the novelist for a literary conversation hosted by Harvard Book Store, 6pm.

🏀 Boston Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls at TD Garden brings Chicago to the parquet for an early-season Eastern Conference matchup, 7:30pm.

Tuesday, 10/27

🎃 The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Emerson Colonial Theatre has original Magenta actress Patricia Quinn at a screening with a live shadow cast, costume contest and audience participation, 7:30pm.

📖 Taylor Grothe at Harvard Book Store discusses the horror-romance novel Lethal Kiss with fellow horror writer Christa Carmen, 7pm. Free.

Wednesday, 10/28

🎤 KATSEYE at TD Garden shows the international pop group's WILDWORLD Tour has appeal in Boston, 8pm.

🍽️ Simply Ina: An Evening Conversation with Ina Garten at Emerson Colonial Theatre features the Barefoot Contessa discussing cooking, hospitality and her new cookbook, 7pm. Also Thursday.

📚 Nicholas Boggs: Baldwin: A Love Story at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square examines the life of James Baldwin in a conversation moderated by Harvard professor Jesse McCarthy, 6pm. Free.

Thursday, 10/29

🎧 John Summit takes his CTRL ESCAPE arena tour to at TD Garden for a night of electronic music, 7pm.

Friday, 10/30

🎙️ Michael Feinstein in My Celebration at Emerson Colonial Theatre pays tribute to Johnny Mathis and Henry Mancini with a concert of classic American songs, 8pm.

Forward this to a friend who needs to squeeze some culture, costumes or courtside action in before Halloween.

Deehan highly recommends Wildwood, but wouldn't bring the little ones.

Steph had a great weekend.

This newsletter was edited by Crystal Hill.