The Hot Sheet

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BALLOT MEASURE LANDSCAPE RIGHT NOW

2024 Election Results

 In the wake of the 2024 election, many Americans across the nation are grappling with a complex landscape of results. While many states celebrated significant wins that promise to advance reproductive rights, economic justice, and direct democracy (to name a few) in states like New York, Missouri, and Arizona – some fell short even with the incredible grassroots efforts of our campaign partners and coalitions who faced unprecedented efforts by state officials to undermine the will of the people.

Reproductive Freedom

• Prop. 139 – Right to Abortion (AZ) PASSED: 61.7% — Arizona voters have successfully overturned the state’s 15-week abortion ban, and enshrined in their state constitution the right to an abortion up until the point of viability, with exceptions for the life and physical or mental health of the pregnant person.
  
• Amendment 79 – Right to Abortion and Removal of Public Funding Ban (CO) PASSED: 61.4% — With Amendment 79’s passage, Coloradans have not only enshrined abortion rights in their constitution but also removed the state’s ban on public funding for abortion. With this victory 1.8 million Coloradans, including 60,000 education workers and 30,000 public employees, will now benefit from health insurance coverage for abortion.
  
• Amendment 4 – Limiting Government Interference with Abortion (FL) FAILED: 57.2% — Though the majority of Floridians did support the abortion access measure, Amendment 4 was defeated due to Florida’s 60% supermajority passage threshold. There were anti-democratic efforts spearheaded by the DeSantis administration, from using a state police force to investigate petition signers, to threatening local TV stations for airing an Amendment 4 ad. The Republican governor Ron DeSantis openly campaigned against the amendment during events organized by his office. They have also spent taxpayer money on ads against the reproductive rights amendment.
  
• Advisory Question 1 – Health Insurance Coverage for IVF (IL) PASSED: 72.5% — Illinois voters signaled that they are overwhelmingly in favor of potential policy requiring health insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization.
  
• Question 1 – Right to Reproductive Freedom (MD) PASSED: 74.1% — Maryland voters have officially enshrined in their state constitution’s Declaration of Rights the essential freedoms to access abortion, contraception, and other reproductive health services.
  
• Amendment 3 – Right to Reproductive Freedom (MO) PASSED: 51.7% — Missouri made history as the first state to clear the path for overturning a total abortion ban following 2022’s Dobbs decision. Amendment 3 prevents the government from denying or interfering with a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom up until the point of fetal viability.
  
• CI-128 – Right to Abortion (MT) PASSED: 57.2% — Montana voters have secured abortion rights in their state constitution, a proactive victory after years of legal battles to fight anti-abortion legislation. The amendment affirms the right to make decisions about one’s pregnancy, including the right to abortion up to the point of viability.
  
• Initiative 439 – Right to Abortion (NE) FAILED: 48.6% — Nebraska’s proactive abortion rights measure has narrowly failed to pass. Initiative 439 would have overturned the state’s current 12-week abortion ban and was the only measure this cycle forced to compete with an anti-abortion countermeasure. That initiative, I-434, relied on misinformation throughout its campaign and used similar branding and verbiage to mislead voters into believing it would protect reproductive rights. 
  
• Question 6 – Reproductive Freedom Amendment (NV) PASSED: 63.3% — The Nevada state constitution is now one step closer to including a right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of a pregnant person.
  
• Proposal 1 – Equal Rights Amendment (NY) PASSED: 61.8% — In a monumental win for New Yorkers, the state constitution will now include a fundamental right to reproductive freedom and protection from government discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, disability status, sexual orientation, and more.

Direct Democracy

• Prop. 134 – Signature Distribution Requirement (AZ) FAILED: 41.9% — Prop. 134 would have required initiative campaigns to collect signatures in each of the state’s legislative districts.
  
• Prop. 136 – Ballot Initiative Legal Challenges (AZ) FAILED: 37.8%  — Voters also rejected Prop. 136, which would have tangled campaigns in expensive lawsuits by extending the timeframe for bad actors to challenge the constitutionality of a citizen-led initiative.
  
• Constitutional Measure 2 – Single-Subject Requirement for Initiatives and Requirement for Constitutional Initiatives to be Passed Twice (ND) FAILED: 43.6% — Would have required measures to address only a single subject, raised the signature requirement for initiatives from 4% to 5% of the state population, and required that initiatives be approved in a Primary Election and a General Election.

Economic Justice

• Ballot Measure No. 1 – Minimum Wage Increase & Paid Sick Leave (AK) PASSED: 56.5% — Alaskans will now see their minimum wage gradually increase to $15 an hour by July 1, 2027, and be adjusted in the future to keep up with inflation. They’ll also be allowed to accrue up to 40 or 56 hours of paid sick leave a year.
  
• Prop. 138 – Lower Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers (AZ) FAILED: 25.3%  — An important win for tipped workers in Arizona, voters have rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed for them to be paid 25% less than minimum wage.
  
• Prop. 32 – California Living Wage Act (CA) FAILED: 48% — California’s citizen-initiated measure to gradually raise the minimum wage to $18 per hour, and adjust thereafter to keep up with inflation, fell just short of passing.
  
• Question 3 – Right for App-Based Drivers to Unionize (MA) PASSED: 54% — Lyft and Uber drivers in Massachusetts have won the right to unionize and bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions.
  
• Question 5 – Require the Full Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers with Tips on Top (MA) FAILED: 36% — Unfortunately, this measure to allow tipped workers to be paid the state’s $15 minimum wage in addition to tips was unsuccessful.
  
• Prop. A – Minimum Wage Increase & Paid Sick Leave (MO) PASSED: 57.6% — With the success of Prop. A, Missouri will gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and workers will be able to earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
  
• Initiative 436 – Paid Sick Leave (NE) PASSED: 74% — Nebraskans overwhelmingly voted to stand with workers by passing paid sick leave in the state. An estimated 250,000 Nebraskans who currently lack paid sick days can now earn one hour of leave for every thirty hours they work — and be protected from retaliation for using it.

Civil Rights

Freedom to Marry (PASSED) — Voters in California, Colorado, and Hawai’i have passed constitutional amendments aimed at safeguarding the freedom to marry. The proactive, legislatively-referred measures shore up critical protections for marriage equality in light of concerns that SCOTUS could look to overturn 2015’s Obergefell decision that upheld the freedom to marry nationwide.

• Proposition 3 (CA) PASSED: 61.1%
• Amendment J (CO) PASSED: 63.6%
• Question 1 (HI) PASSED: 55%

Democracy

• Issue 1 – Citizen-Led Redistricting Commission (OH) Failed: 46.2% — The citizen-led ballot initiative to end gerrymandering in Ohio has failed by a narrow margin. Opponents had relied on intentionally deceptive claims to confuse voters on Issue 1, with ballot language that falsely asserted the measure would require gerrymandering and ads alleging it was a “democrat scheme” to turn Ohio blue despite the proposed 15-person commission being made up of equal number of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
  
• Prop. 137 – Lifetime Appointments for State Judges (AZ) Failed: 22.29% — Arizona voters soundly rejected a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment that would have essentially granted lifetime appointments to state supreme court justices and superior court judges judges and ended retention elections at the conclusion of the judicial term.
  
• Prop. 131 – Ranked-Choice Voting (CO) Failed: 44.8%  — Colorado voters have rejected the billionaire-backed Prop. 131, which proposed a version of ranked-choice voting that would have pushed out grassroots candidates with its pay-to-play system.
   
• Citizen-Only Voting (PASSED) — Despite existing federal law that prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, all eight states where such prohibitions were on the ballot have passed ballot measures restricting voting to only U.S. citizens.
  • Amendment 1 (IA) PASSED: 75.8%
  • HJR 5 (ID) PASSED: 64.9%
  • Amendment 1 (KY) PASSED: 62.4%
  • Amendment 7 (MO) PASSED: 68.5%
  • Amendment 1 (NC) PASSED: 77.6%
  • Question 834 (OK) PASSED: 80.7% 
  • Amendment 1 (SC) PASSED: 86%
  • SJR 32 (WI) PASSED: 69.8%

Education

• Amendment 80 – School Choice in K-12 Education (CO) FAILED: 47.9%  — Colorado voters overcame deceptive campaign practices for a ballot measure that would have enshrined school choice into the state constitution. If passed, the measure would have long-term effects on funding for public and private schools alike.
  
• Amendment 2 – State Funding for Non-Public Education (KY) FAILED: 35% — In a win for public education, Kentucky voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed state lawmakers to use public taxpayer dollars to fund non-public schools.
  
• Referendum 435 – Private Education Scholarship Partial Referendum (NE) PASSED: 57% — Nebraskans have successfully repealed Legislative Bill 1402, which allowed the state to fund a private education scholarship program with a $10 million budget using taxpayer dollars.

Criminal Legal Reform

• Prop. 314 – Anti-Immigration U.S. Border Law Enforcement (AZ) PASSED: 62.7% — Prop. 314, an anti-immigration, legislatively-referred amendment allowing state and local police to arrest suspected noncitizens for crossing the border outside of official points of entry, has passed. The measure’s critics question its constitutionality, with a clinical immigration law professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson previously saying that Prop. 314 is “completely unconstitutional under every interpretation of the Constitution by the federal courts to date.” The amendment is likely to be challenged in court in the months to come.
  
• Prop. 6 – Removal of Slavery as Punishment for a Crime (CA) FAILED: 45.1% — Unfortunately, this legislatively-referred measure failed to garner enough support. While the California Constitution currently prohibits slavery and servitude, except as punishment to a crime, this measure would have prohibited slavery in any form — including forced labor compelled by the use or threat of physical or legal coercion. More than a dozen states still have language prohibiting enslavement and involuntary servitude — except for criminal punishment.
  
• Question 4 – Removal of Slavery as Punishment for a Crime (NV) PASSED: 60.5% — Voters have removed language from the Nevada Constitution that allowed the use of slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. Nevada joins Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont who have all removed slavery from their state constitutions since 2018.

On the Ballot in 2024

In 2024, a total of 160 statewide ballot measures were on the ballot across 41 states and Washington, D.C. These measures included:

• 85 legislatively-referred measures
• 58 citizen-initiated measures
• 13 bond issues
• 3 advisory questions
• 1 constitutional convention question

Measures Qualified by Issue Area

• Civil Rights: 8
• Criminal Legal Reform: 14
• Democracy: Elections, Government, and Judiciary: 39
• Direct Democracy: 4
• Economic Justice: 9
• Education: 13
• Environment: 5
• Fiscal Policy: 31
• Healthcare: 8
• Reproductive Freedom: 11
• Miscellaneous: 9

Ballot Measure Progress

Progressive policies are passing at the ballot in Red, Blue, and Purple states such as Florida, Arizona, Missouri, and Ohio. Through the power of direct democracy, the people are transforming power, advancing racial equity, and galvanizing a new progressive base. 

Through the power of direct democracy, citizens have passed policies such as: 

• Minimum wage increases
• Protecting and expanding reproductive freedoms
• Decriminalization of marijuana
• Paid Family Leave
• Medicaid expansion
• Taxing the wealthy
• Restoration of voting rights
• Reparations
• Transforming public safety

Attacks on the Ballot Measure Process

In 2017, BISC monitored just 33 bills relating to the ballot measure process. Compare that to 2023 legislative sessions in which 165 bills were introduced in 39 states that would impact the ballot initiative process, 76 of which sought to restrict or undermine the process. 

What does an attack on direct democracy look like?

Some tactics used by lawmakers who are attempting to weaken the ballot initiative process include:

• Proposing legislation to make the ballot process harder to access
• Bringing forth legal challenges against initiatives that have been already been approved by voters
• Blocking the implementation of ballot measures that have already passed

Anti-Direct Democracy Measures on Ballot 2024: 

• Arizona: Prop 134: Distribution Requirement for Initiatives Amendment [FAILED]: Requires signatures from 10% of qualified voters in each legislative district to qualify initiated state statutes for the ballot and would require signatures from 15% of qualified voters in each legislative district to qualify initiated constitutional amendments for the ballot.
  
• Arizona: Prop. 136: Legal Challenges to Constitutionality of Initiatives [FAILED]: Allows any person to contest the constitutionality of an initiative measure or amendment in superior court after it has been filed and prohibits the Secretary of State (SOS) from certifying or printing an amendment or measure that is found unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction.
  
• North Dakota: Constitutional Measure 2: Single-Subject Requirement for Initiatives and Require Constitutional Initiatives to be Passed Twice [FAILED]: Requires a single-subject for initiatives and requires proposed constitutional initiatives to appear on the ballot and be approved at the primary and general election to become effective.
  
• Utah Amendment D: Legislative Alteration of Ballot Initiatives and Foreign Contributions Ban [VOID]: Grants Utah legislature the right to repeal laws that have been passed, adopted, or even rejected by voters.
  • Note: While Amendment D will appear on Utah’s November 5 ballot, a district court judge has ruled the LRCA void and votes on the measure will not be counted. The Utah Supreme Court has upheld that decision following an appeal by legislative leadership.

Anti-Direct Democracy Policies Affecting Ballot Measures: 

1. Ohio [OPPOSED] House Bill 1 was passed during a special session of the Ohio legislature following a series of rushed committee hearings, only one of which was open for any public input from Ohioans. The bill significantly increases the power of the state attorney general to launch investigations into allegations raised of foreign money coming into ballot campaigns. The attorney general is now granted sole prosecutorial authority over such matters, shifting that authority away from the bipartisan Ohio Elections Commission. The bill comes on the heels of 2023’s successful passage of the Issue 1 reproductive rights ballot measure, a significant win that anti-abortion lawmakers would rather attribute to foreign campaign contributions than believe respects the will of the people.

2. Idaho [OPPOSED]: Signed into law by Idaho Gov. Little, Senate Bill 1377 targets paid petition circulators, requiring that they verbally disclose to signers that they are paid, wear a badge indicating “paid petition circulator”, and more. Unpaid circulators are required to complete a sworn affidavit attesting that they are not being compensated. There will be harsh consequences for failure to comply with any of the provisions, including that any petition for a referendum campaign that fails to comply with the rules be voided. 

3. Oklahoma [OPPOSED]: House Bill 1105, signed into law by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, extends the period to legally challenge petition signatures from 10 to 90 days, burdening citizen initiative efforts with uncertainty and delaying efforts. Because this policy took immediate effect on May 31, 2024, it led to the vote on a popular minimum wage increase measure being delayed to June 2026.

Why are the attacks happening?

Efforts to undermine and weaken ballot measures have been increasing since the 2016 election in response to progressive wins and people-powered democracy at the ballot box. 

In many states, some politicians and wealthy special interests are trying to make it harder for voters to propose and pass ballot initiatives under the cover of so-called “reforms.” These attacks have escalated and have become more nuanced, sophisticated, and would have deeper impacts on the initiative process. These restrictive measures take a variety of forms, but they all serve the same function: to undermine the will of the people and diminish their decision-making power. BISC and our partners are fighting back against these attacks and spearheading the movement to #DefendDirectDemocracy. 

As we continue to face rising restrictions on voting rights, reproductive freedoms, and civil liberties, it is more important than ever to protect our freedom to shape the laws that govern us — especially through ballot initiatives. Together, we can fight against the anti-democracy initiatives that threaten our livelihoods and work to build a democracy rooted in equity and justice, where all people are treated with dignity and thrive.

For more information on our analysis or to schedule an interview with one of our policy experts, please contact our Strategic Communications Director, Caroline Sanchez Avakian at [email protected]