feat: add the firearms veto referendum and associated schema changes (#2109)

Author: fastfadingviolets

ballotQuestions/2026/24-firearms-referendum.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# ballotQuestions/2026/24-firearms-referendum.yaml
+#
+# Referendum petition (Article 48 §2) to repeal Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024,
+# "An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws." Filed with the Secretary of the
+# Commonwealth on Aug. 9, 2024 by ten qualified voters; certified for the
+# November 2026 ballot. Underlying bill is H.4885 of the 193rd General Court.
+#
+# id: descriptive. Unlike initiative petitions (which carry an AG YY-NN
+# docket number — e.g. 25-03), referendum petitions in MA are not assigned
+# a docket number; the Secretary's transmittal letter to the AG identifies
+# the petition only by the chapter it seeks to repeal.
+id: "24-firearms-referendum"
+billId: "H4885"
+title: "Referendum on the 2024 firearms law (Chapter 135)"
+court: 193
+electionYear: 2026
+type: referendum
+ballotStatus: certified
+ballotQuestionNumber: null
+relatedBillIds: []
+description: null
+atAGlance: null
+fullSummary: |-
+  This referendum asks voters whether to repeal Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024,
+  "An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws," an omnibus law passed by the Legislature
+  and signed by Governor Healey in 2024 that made several changes to the
+  state's firearm regulations.
+
+  Opponents of the law gathered enough certified signatures to qualify a
+  referendum petition for the November 2026 ballot. A YES vote keeps the law
+  in effect. A NO vote repeals it.
+
+  An official summary prepared by the Attorney General will appear in the
+  state's Information for Voters guide closer to the election.
+pdfUrl: "https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2024/Chapter135"

components/ballotquestions/BallotQuestionHeader.tsx

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { useTranslation } from "next-i18next"
 import Link from "next/link"
 import { Container, Row, Col } from "react-bootstrap"
 import { useAuth } from "../auth"
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ export const BallotQuestionHeader = ({
   ballotQuestion: BallotQuestion
   bill: Bill | null
 }) => {
+  const { t } = useTranslation("search")
   const { notifications } = useFlags()
   const { user } = useAuth()
   const statusLabel = getBallotQuestionStatusLabel(ballotQuestion.ballotStatus)
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ export const BallotQuestionHeader = ({
         return "Constitutional Amendment"
       case "advisory":
         return "Advisory Question"
+      case "referendum":
+        return t("ballot_question_type.referendum")
       default:
         return "Ballot Question"
     }

components/ballotquestions/OverviewTab.tsx

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { Trans, useTranslation } from "next-i18next"
 import type { ReactNode } from "react"
 import { Col, Row } from "react-bootstrap"
 import { BallotQuestion, Bill } from "../db"
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ export const OverviewTab = ({
   bill: Bill | null
   hearings: Hearing[]
 }) => {
+  const { t } = useTranslation("search")
   const sortedHearings = [...hearings].sort((a, b) => b.startsAt - a.startsAt)
   const sectionCopyStyle = {
     color: "#334155",
@@ -47,6 +49,21 @@ export const OverviewTab = ({
         </div>
       </SectionCard>
 
+      {ballotQuestion.type === "referendum" && (
+        <SectionCard>
+          <h3 className="h5 mb-2 text-dark">
+            {t("ballot_question_referendum_how_vote_works.title")}
+          </h3>
+          <p className="mb-0" style={sectionCopyStyle}>
+            <Trans
+              i18nKey="ballot_question_referendum_how_vote_works.body"
+              ns="search"
+              components={[<strong key="yes" />, <strong key="no" />]}
+            />
+          </p>
+        </SectionCard>
+      )}
+
       {ballotQuestion.atAGlance && ballotQuestion.atAGlance.length > 0 && (
         <SectionCard>
           <h3 className="h5 mb-3 text-dark">Key Details</h3>

functions/src/ballotQuestions/types.ts

@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ export const BallotQuestion = withDefaults(
       L("initiative_constitutional"),
       L("legislative_referral"),
       L("constitutional_amendment"),
-      L("advisory")
+      L("advisory"),
+      L("referendum")
     ),
     ballotStatus: BallotQuestionStatus,
     ballotQuestionNumber: Union(Number, Null),

pages/ballotQuestions/[id].tsx

@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ export const getServerSideProps: GetServerSideProps = async ctx => {
         "common",
         "footer",
         "testimony",
-        "profile"
+        "profile",
+        "search"
       ]))
     }
   }

public/locales/en/search.json

@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@
     "rejected": "Rejected",
     "accepted": "Accepted"
   },
+  "ballot_question_type": {
+    "referendum": "Veto Referendum"
+  },
+  "ballot_question_referendum_how_vote_works": {
+    "title": "How the vote works",
+    "body": "This is a referendum on a law the Legislature has already enacted. <0>A YES vote keeps this law in effect.</0> <1>A NO vote repeals it.</1>"
+  },
   "ballot_question_results_summary": "Showing {{count}} questions",
   "ballot_question_reset_filters": "Reset filters",
   "ballot_question_no_summary": "No summary available yet.",