Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 128A, § 14B

Except as hereinafter provided, the state secretary shall, in addition to subdivisions A and B of the subdivided question provided for in section fourteen, cause to be placed on the official ballot to be used in the cities and towns of Berkshire county at the biennial state election in the year nineteen hundred and fifty-four, and every fourth year thereafter, the following subdivided question:--

If a majority of the votes cast in Berkshire county in answer to subdivision C are in the affirmative, said county shall be taken to have authorized the licensing of horse races at county fairs therein at which the pari-mutuel system of betting shall be permitted.

The state secretary shall not cause the foregoing question to be placed on the ballot at any biennial state election if the voters in said county in response to said question have voted in the affirmative four consecutive times or in the negative four consecutive times, unless there has been filed with said secretary not later than the sixtieth day before the election at which the question is to be submitted, petitions, the forms of which may be obtained from said secretary, signed by registered voters of said county the total of which are equal in number to at least ten per cent of the total number of registered voters in said county. Such petitions shall be subject to the provisions of chapter fifty-three relative to initiative petitions.