Here are the five statewide questions likely to appear on November’s ballot

The number and diversity of the proposals underscore how advocacy and special interest groups are willing to not only turn to the ballot box — and bypass the Legislature — to realize their policy ambitions, but also plunk down major dollars to do so.

And often, whichever side spends the most, wins.

“It’s the express line to legislating,” Secretary of State William F. Galvin said. “The idea that this is a purely citizen [driven] process simply is not true. It’s largely being guided by the money. . . . You have groups that believe it’s a more efficient use of their money” than trying to sway lawmakers.

To get a question on the ballot, groups need to first gather tens of thousands of signatures. For any measure that clears that threshold, the Legislature has the option to pass or propose a legislative substitute by early May, thus taking the decision from the hands of voters. This cycle, however, lawmakers declined to exercise that option on every proposed ballot question, leaving groups to collect and submit to the state by last week nearly 12,500 more signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Groups also must register so-called ballot question committees with campaign finance regulators, through which they report who is financing a ballot initiative — or in the case of opponents, who’s funding a counter-campaign against it.

Galvin on Wednesday announced he has certified four questions for the ballot, including one proposal that would give Auditor Diana DiZoglio the authority to audit the Legislature.

A fifth question seeking to allow tipped restaurant servers to make the same $15 minimum wage as other workers also submitted enough signatures. But supporters cleared the threshold by a mere 136 signatures, and a leader of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association — which has fought against the proposal — challenged the submission, saying some signatures were “fraudulently obtained” or are from people who aren’t registered voters.

The state Ballot Law Commission will hold a hearing either on or after July 17 “to consider the objection,” according to Galvin’s office.

One Fair Wage, a national group spearheading the tipped worker question, dismissed the challenge as “nothing more than a blatant attempt to stop the democratic process from happening.”

The last time the state had more than four questions on the ballot was in 2000, when voters decided eight, according to records kept by Galvin’s office.

For a while, it looked like voters might face even more questions this year. A coalition backed by Uber, Lyft, and other corporations pushed a proposal to classify drivers as independent contractors. But the companies last month reached a landmark settlement with the state that would grant employment benefits and rights for gig drivers while requiring the companies to pay $175 million in penalties and back pay.

As a result, the coalition ended its ballot push and is expected to be dissolved, according to a spokesperson. Instead, the only ride-share-related question that appears destined for the ballot is a separate proposal that would give their drivers the right to unionize.

That question’s supporters, like others, have simultaneously, and unsuccessfully, pushed proposals in the Legislature, where lawmakers have either not shown an appetite for the bills or have outright opposed them.

Lawmakers, for example, have roundly criticized DiZoglio’s bid to audit them, arguing that it would not only violate the constitutional separation of powers, but that DiZoglio, a former lawmaker who campaigned on investigating the Legislature, has a “clear prejudice,” according to a report a legislative committee reviewing the ballot question filed. DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat, has cast the Legislature — which is exempt from open meeting and public records laws — as a closed-door operation.

The push to scrap the MCAS exam, meanwhile, is being driven by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which often has no shortage of allies in the Democrat-led chambers. But legislative leaders and Governor Maura Healey have come out against the measure. Healey, for one, has said it’s important that state officials “maintain the ability to assess our young people.”

So the union is asking voters instead, arguing that the exams create immense inequities in public schools and unnecessarily punish those who struggle with standardized tests.

“It’s another way for corporations or unions to do end-runs around the system,” said Ray La Raja, a University of Massachusetts Amherst political scientist and cofounder of the UMass Amherst Poll. “Groups have become much more comfortable running independent operations and throwing money at this stuff.”

And lots of it. Groups both pushing, and opposing, ballot questions have regularly poured in millions to sway voters, seemingly setting new records with each cycle.

Four years ago, a battle over expanding the state’s “Right to Repair” law was the most expensive ballot initiative in Massachusetts history, with automakers and auto parts dealers funneling money into committees that ultimately spent nearly $52 million. The question passed, requiring automakers to provide car owners and independent mechanics with access to wireless mechanical data, though the law has been jammed up for years in litigation.

In 2022, committees advocating for or against four separate questions reported dropping a combined $67 million, according to data from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Of the 17 statewide ballot questions put to voters over the last decade, the side that spent the most prevailed in 11 of them, a Globe analysis found. For example, successful initiatives to implement a new surtax on annual earnings over $1 million, adopted in 2022, and to legalize recreational marijuana, passed in 2016, were both backed by committees that outspent their opponents.

Voters, however, aren’t always swayed by those with the biggest wallets. In 2020, voters rejected a question that would have implemented ranked-choice voting despite supporters spending about $1,200 for every $1 opponents spent. Four years earlier, supporters of a ballot question to lift the state cap on charter schools outspent opponents only to see it fail by a wide margin.

This cycle is already a pricey one. Three ballot question committees collectively spent more than $11.4 million before 2024 even started, with most of the money going to paid signature collectors or consultants, according to state data.

The industry-backed committee behind the now-defunct ride-share question accounted for more than half of that, reporting $6.6 million spent. But the committee advocating to legalize psychedelic mushrooms spent $3.7 million, most of it going to an organizing and signature collecting firm based in New York. United for Justice, the labor-backed group behind the question that would allow drivers to unionize, spent more than $1 million.

Ballot question committees don’t have to file their next report until early September, covering their spending and donations for all of 2024 to that point.

“There’s almost a nine-month gap where you’re unsure about the influence” behind these questions, said Geoff Foster, executive director of the good government group, Common Cause Massachusetts.

The committees are then required to file at least three more reports before the Nov. 5 election.

That reporting schedule stands in stark contrast to that of state lawmakers and statewide elected officials, who have to report who gave them money and how they spent it each month.

“It should invite the same level of scrutiny,” Foster said of ballot question spending. “Voters should have the same level of expectations for transparency for elected officials who are making these decisions, as we would for interests who are trying to put a question directly before voters.”

Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.