Israel Divestment Question To Appear On Somerville Election Ballot: Report

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city’s Election Commission approved a ballot question that will give voters the ability to vote for Somerville to divest from companies with ties to Israel, according to a report from MassLive.

Question 3 reportedly focuses on large-scale multinational corporations such as Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar and Lockheed Martin. While it is nonbinding, it is meant to signal to leadership such as City Council and the Mayor what the majority of residents want if it receives a lot of votes. Somerville for Palestine was the group who first proposed divesting earlier this year, and were asked to gather more than 5,000 signatures to demonstrate support. The group was able to collect approximately 8,000.

Somerville United Against Discrimination submitted an objection to the ballot question, describing it as illegal and discriminatory, however the measure will be on the ballot in November.

Read more at MassLive.

See Also:

Medford Divests: Votes To Stop Investing In Certain Companies