ring your glasses and your patience to the voting booth Nov. 7.
In an effort to squeeze this year's eight statewide questions onto the ballot, Secretary of State William Galvin has been forced to shrink the type size.
Also, the sheer volume and complexity of the ballot initiatives, coupled with anticipated turnout in this close presidential election, is expected to cause long lines when voters arrive at polling stations that day.
''The practical problem is, they're going to have such difficulty reading the type because it's so small,'' Galvin said, adding that he's worried voters will become confused because they cannot see or understand a question, and in leaving the booth to seek help, will accidentally record their ballot before it's completed.
In addition, some communities have their own local questions to be decided in the election, lengthening the ballots further.
Meanwhile, despite the smaller type, some towns still will not have enough room for all of the options to fit on voting machine panels. The result: Clerks will distribute extra paper ballots for some of the questions.
Galvin is required to print a summary of each question on the ballot.
In communities that regularly use paper ballots, voters will be faced with several pages of issues to plow through and check off. Chelsea, for example, will have four pages of questions, each page nearly 2 feet long. Springfield voters will receive three cards, also nearly 2 feet long. (Both cities also have bilingual ballots.)
In communities with small voting machines or additional local questions - including Wilmington, Agawam, Bedford, Fairhaven, Granby, Oxford, Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Lanesborough, as well as Berkshire towns - the print will be significantly smaller than in past years. In Newton, the text will be ''microscopic,'' Galvin said, forcing him to print explanatory handouts in more legible type to aid voters.
Jane Hladick, the town clerk in Natick, is grappling with 11 ballot questions, more than any other municipality in Massachusetts.
''It's a nightmare,'' Hladick said. ''I've never seen a ballot this big.''
She's also fretting about the absentee ballots, which, because of their size, need to be folded several times to fit in envelopes. The resulting creases could jam the machine that reads them.
''The machine might not like them at all,'' Hladick added.
Hladick has already watched in horror as it has taken voters 45 minutes to fill out the absentee forms, a sure sign that the lines will be long on election day.
Jody Phillips - the clerk in Pittsfield, where most of the city's 30,000 voters will face 10 ballot questions - is considering advertising in the local press to warn citizens of the small type, complex issues and long waits. She also wants the newspapers to print the local ballot questions in full to promote early decision making.
''Either way there are going to be people who are unhappy that it's too small,'' Phillips said. ''The best we can do is to make sure everyone is comfortable with what they're voting on.''
Although official numbers are not yet available, about 200,000 people have registered to vote this year. Though that may include people simply moving from one community to another, the total number of registered voters in the state may now approach 4 million.
Galvin has mailed red election guides to voters, explaining each of the eight statewide ballot questions, including arguments for and against the initiatives.
The guides are also available at libraries and post offices, or the information can be downloaded off the secretary of state's Web site at www.state.ma.us/sec/ele. However, neither the booklets nor the Web site includes any of the local questions.
The statewide questions are lengthy and complicated, and most have far-reaching consequences. There are nearly $2 billion worth of tax cuts spread among three measures, an initiative that would eliminate the dog racing industry in Massachusetts, and another that would decide whether inmates should have the right to vote.
Question 5, which would revamp the health care system, has 17 provisions.
Question 8, which would create a drug treatment trust fund, has a six-paragraph summary.
In 1994, there were a record nine statewide ballot questions, but the text was not as lengthy. Still, Secretary of State Michael Connolly, confronting a similar space quandary, decided to delete question summaries on the ballot. The validity of the election was challeneged in the state's highest court, which ultimately upheld the results but admonished Connolly, saying the summaries should be on the ballot.
Galvin does not want a repeat of that controversy and says he is going out of his way to make sure voters are given every benefit. ''It's a major headache,'' he said.
