BALLOT QUESTIONS The following proposed questions are slated for the November ballot, if supporters can collect enough signatures: Health Care: Mandates universal health care, bans the sale of nonprofit hospitals to for-profit companies and creates a patient's bill of rights; Income Tax Cut: Rolls back the state income tax from 5.85 percent to a flat 5 percent by 2003; Drug Forfeiture: Uses property and funds seized during drug investigations to create a drug treatment trust fund; Greyhound Racing: Bans any form of dog racing for betting or wagering and establishes a $20,000 fine for violators; Commuter Taxes: Creates a tax credit for the amount of money paid by drivers in tolls and excise taxes each year; Internet Access: Requires cable television networks to offer Internet service through competing providers; Pesticides: Bans the use of some pesticides and restricts the use of others in schools and day care centers; Charitable Giving: Creates a state personal income tax deduction for taxpayers who give to charity.

BOSTON -- Their goals may vary -- from banning greyhound racing to mandating health care -- but activists hoping to get questions on November's ballot face the same hurdle: getting signatures, and lots of them.

Nine questions have already passed the first, and biggest, obstacle, collecting more than 57,000 signatures before last December's initial deadline.

Now they face a second deadline. Unless lawmakers approve their questions before Wednesday -- and only one question seems headed to a vote -- activists must gather another 9,500 signatures in the next seven weeks.

Most ballot questions activists are already preparing for massive public relations campaigns.

"We're geared up in all the major cities," said John O'Connor of the Committee to Defend and Improve Health Care, which is supporting a ballot question to mandate universal health care. "People are fed up."

The group has already been promised $100,000 to help launch an advertising campaign pushing their health care question, O'Connor said.

"This is going to be a war. This is going to be a big battle," he added.

GREY2K, the group pushing the greyhound racing ban, is also scrambling to pull together the funding needed to pitch their idea to voters, according to spokeswoman Laurel Finucan.

"Dogs shouldn't have to die or suffer so that people can bet a few dollars. There are more acceptable forms of entertainment," she said.

At least one group is hoping lawmakers save them the time and money needed to collect more signatures and mount an advertising campaign.

Both the Massachusetts House and Senate have given initial approval to a bill similar to a ballot question banning the use of some pesticides at schools and day care centers. Like the proposed ballot question, the bill also requires schools to notify parents before other pesticides are used.

The bill, which is even broader than the ballot question, has wide support on Beacon Hill. Gov. Paul Cellucci has indicated he would likely sign it.

"We're very happy," said Paul Burns, an environmental attorney with MassPIRG. "No other state bans the use of the most dangerous pesticides in these locations."

If the bill gets to Cellucci's desk, and he signs it, the group would drop it's pursuit of a ballot question, Burns said.

Other groups are gearing up not in support of a ballot question, but in opposition.

The Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts is planning a campaign aimed at defeating a Cellucci-backed ballot initiative aimed at cutting the state's income tax from 5.85 percent to a flat 5 percent by 2003. The group is also fighting a second tax-cutting question.

The cuts would hurt state services, according to alliance director James St. George, who said his group is planning a major counteroffensive.

"We don't have any illusion of being able to match the governor's fund-raising ability. What we'll do is match his dollars with our people," he said.

Most ballot question activists are convinced they have the will of voters on their side -- provided they can get their message out.

"There is overwhelming support," said Harold Hubschman, who is pushing a question giving drivers tax credits for the amount of money they pay in tolls and excise taxes.

Hubschman said he is just trying to hold lawmakers' feet to the fire by forcing them to make good on promises to take down tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

"Taxes on commuters have gotten completely out of hand. We pay tolls, excise taxes, gas taxes and sales taxes," he said. "You shouldn't have to pay four taxes to drive a car in Massachusetts."

Currently there are nine ballot questions still in the works -- although not all may make the November ballot.

One of the questions, which seeks to ease restrictions on state aid to religious or private schools, requires a change in the state constitution and could not appear until the 2002 ballot.

Other ballot questions would: use property seized during drug investigations to create drug treatment programs; require cable television networks to offer Internet service through competing providers; and create a state personal income tax deduction for taxpayers who give to charity.

Supporters of the drug forfeiture initiative released a list of backers Monday, including former Massachusetts attorneys general Scott Harshbarger, James Shannon and Francis Bellotti.