Key Ballot Measures Voters Voted On In Nov. 2020

Besides voting for statewide and nationwide offices, voters in over 32 states decided on about 100 statewide ballot measures, including on issues regarding voting, elections, abortion rights, drug legalization, taxes, and more. Let’s take a look at some of the most important ballot measures that voters approved in this post.

Drug Legalization Measures

Drug legalization has been a contentious issue throughout the country, and ever since Washington state and Colorado began legalizing marijuana in 2012, many states have since followed. There has not been a cycle since then in which at least some states have had ballot measures to legalize marijuana, and 2020 is no exception. Voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota approved, by large margins, to legalize the drug for recreational use in those states, via Ariz. Prop. 107, Mont. Initiative 190, N.J. Public Question 1, and S.D. Const. Amendment A. And in Mississippi, voters approved the legalization of medical marijuana by the passage of Miss. Ballot Measure 1A.

In addition, Oregon Measure 110 was passed by voters, which made Oregon the first state in the nation to decriminalize personal possession of small amounts of controlled substances, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and more, as well as passing a measure to fund drug treatment centers with marijuana tax money.

Full analysis on cannabis legalization coming soon.

Election Law

Voters failed to pass Massachusetts Question 2, which would have created ranked-choice voting in the state. However, Colorado Prop. 113 passed, which added Colorado to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement between states to vote for the national popular vote winner in the Electoral College once states worth over 270 electoral votes sign-on. The agreement is now just 74 votes short of the needed 270.

The Virginia Redistricting Commission Amendment was passed, which would create an independent commission for the sole purpose of drawing up legislative districts to prevent gerrymandering. Unfortunately, Missouri Amendment 3 passed, which would return the state to using a governor-appointed committee to draw these districts.

Mississippi’s Ballot Measure 2 will repeal the state’s convoluted system for electing statewide officials, which was enacted in 1890 to disenfranchise Black voters, and still makes it very difficult for Democrats to win there. Voters have voted to get rid of this system, enacting a simple winner-take-all system for statewide elections.

Florida’s Amendment 3 failed to pass, though, which would have created top-two primaries for statewide offices.

Abortion

A cheer for abortion activists comes in the form of the failure of Colorado Prop. 115, which, if passed, would have banned late-term abortions. Voters voted resoundingly “no” for the proposition.

While Coloradans chose to embrace a woman’s right to an abortion, the same couldn’t be said in Louisiana. Voters there passed La. Amendment 1, which, in essence, would ban abortion in the state should Roe v. Wade be overturned.

Economy

A huge blow to workers comes in the form of the passage of California’s Proposition 22, which would ensure that gig economy workers, like those working for Uber and Lyft, would remain as contractors rather than employees (in essence, such a system would massively reduce health care and paid leave benefits to those workers). This was a very expensive amendment, as large companies spent over $200 million to get the amendment to pass. Unfortunately, 58 percent of people voted “yes” on the amendment.

Illinois, unfortunately, voted no on the amendment to change income tax from a flat rate to a graduated tax system, which would charge rich people more and poor people less. Similarly, California also voted no on Prop. 15, which would have taxed commercial properties at higher rates.

Florida votes resoundingly “yes” on Amendment 2, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026, a huge win for activists who have been trying to raise the minimum wage.

Colorado Prop. 118 also passed, giving the state the right to establish laws to guarantee paid family and medical leave for all workers in the state.

Though not strictly related to the economy, Californians voted “no” to repeal the ban on affirmative action in public colleges and government hiring decisions in Prop. 16.

Crime and Justice

California voted “no” on Prop. 25, a proposition that would have ended cash bails. This may have been because the passage of this proposition would give judges a wider discretion on whether to continue to hold detainees, which many people were skeptical about. However, they voted “no” on Prop. 20, which, if passed, would have made criminal justice laws much stricter.

Oklahoma voted “no” on Question 805, which would have banned the state from using past non-felony convictions to impose a greater sentence on persons convicted of nonviolent felonies.

Michigan overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2 by a margin of 88 to 11, which would require warrants to search electronic data.

And in Utah, voters passed Const. Amendment C, which removes language in the state’s constitution to remove slavery as a means of punishment.

Puerto Rico Statehood

In a the sixth nonbinding referendum the U.S. territory has held, citizens of Puerto Rico voted 52 percent to 48 percent in favor of becoming a U.S. state. Though statehood is still determinant on how Congress acts, the referendum could give Puerto Rican leadership more leverage on making the territory into a state. Republicans have dismissed the movement as a scheme to add more Democratic senators and representatives, but based on this year’s Hispanic vote demographics, that isn’t so sure any more.