A costly campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida failed Nov. 5 and California voters took a step toward tough crime laws as voters in dozens of states weighed more than 140 measures appearing on the ballot alongside races for president and top state offices.
Florida was one of several states deciding high-profile marijuana measures and was among 10 states considering amendments related to abortion or reproductive rights. Voters in several states gave resounding approval to amendments specifically barring noncitizens from voting, and Arizona approved a measure authorizing local police to enforce immigration laws.
Other state measures affected wages, taxes, and education, including school choice measures defeated in Kentucky and Nebraska.
Many of the ballot measures were initiated by citizen petitions that sidestep state legislatures, though others were placed before voters by lawmakers.
Marijuana legalization
The Florida marijuana amendment fell short of the 60% supermajority needed to approve constitutional amendments. It would have allowed recreational sales of marijuana to people over 21 from existing medical marijuana dispensaries, with the potential for the Legislature to license additional retailers.
The campaign was funded predominantly by Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator, Trulieve, which had provided almost $145 million of the $153 million campaign through the end of October. The measure was opposed by the Florida Republican Party and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said it would reduce the quality of life by leaving a marijuana stench in the air.
Measures to legalize recreational marijuana also were defeated in North Dakota and trailing in South Dakota. The election marked the third vote on the issue in both states.
In Nebraska, voters approved a pair of measures to legalize medical marijuana and regulate the industry.
Heading into the election, 24 states and the District of Columbia – representing 53% of the nation’s population – already had legalized marijuana for adults. A total of 38 states and the District of Columbia had laws allowing the medical use of marijuana. Possessing or selling marijuana remains a crime under federal law, punishable by prison time and fines.
In Massachusetts, voters defeated a measure that would have legalized the possession and supervised use of natural psychedelics, including psilocybin mushrooms. Supporters were seeking to follow Oregon and Colorado.
Citizen voting
Constitutional amendments declaring that only citizens can vote won approval in all eight states where they went before voters – Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. All the measures were referred to the ballot by Republican-led legislatures.
A 1996 U.S. law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and many states already have similar laws. But Republicans have emphasized the potential of noncitizens voting after an influx of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexican border. Though noncitizen voting historically has been rare, voter roll reviews before the election flagged potential noncitizens registered in several states.
Some municipalities in California, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., allow noncitizens to vote in certain local elections.
Immigration
Arizona voters approved a measure making it a state crime to enter from a foreign country except through official ports of entry. The measure authorizes state and local law enforcement officers to arrest violators and state judges to order their deportations. It also makes it a state crime for someone already in the U.S. illegally to apply for public benefits using false documents.
Within the past year, Republican lawmakers in Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma also have passed immigration laws. In each case, federal courts have halted the states’ efforts to enforce them. The Arizona measure won’t take effect immediately, because it stipulates that violators can’t be prosecuted until a similar law in Texas or another state has been in effect for 60 consecutive days.
Crime
Voters in California took a step toward tougher crime laws, a decade after relaxing them. A measure approved Nov. 5 makes shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increases penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It also gives judges the authority to order people with multiple drug charges to get treatment.
The measure partly rolls back a law passed by voters in 2014 that downgraded several nonviolent crimes to misdemeanors, including theft under $950 in value and some drug offenses.
Climate
Voters in Washington state upheld a climate-change law seeking to slash carbon pollution. Nov. 5’s vote defeated an attempt to repeal a 2021 state law that caps carbon emissions and requires major polluters to pay for the right to do so by buying “allowances.” Washington was the second state to launch such a program after California.
Taxes
In Colorado, voters approved a measure making it the second state after California to impose a sales tax on firearms and ammunition, with revenue going primarily to crime victims’ services. California’s tax faces a legal challenge from the National Rifle Association and other groups, and Colorado’s is likely to also be challenged. The federal government already taxes sales of guns and ammunition.
North Dakota voters defeated a proposal that would have eliminated most property taxes. A legislative panel estimated it could have cost the state over $3 billion biennially – about half the amount of the state’s two-year general fund budget passed last year.
In Oregon, voters defeated a measure that would have raised the minimum tax on large corporations to fund a tax rebate for residents.
South Dakota voters defeated a proposed repeal of the state’s sales tax on groceries.
Voting methods
Connecticut voters passed a measure authorizing no-excuse absentee voting, joining most states that already allow it.
Voters elsewhere generally said “no” to proposed election changes. A measure allowing ranked choice voting passed in Washington, D.C. But in Oregon, voters defeated a measure that would have required ranked choice voting in both primaries and general elections. And Missouri approved a measure banning ranked choice voting.
Ranked choice voting is currently used in Alaska and Maine. But Alaska voters were deciding whether to repeal provisions of a 2020 initiative that instituted open primaries and ranked choice general elections.
Voters in Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada defeated proposals to use open primaries featuring candidates from all parties, with a certain number advancing to a general election using ranked choice voting.
Voters in Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota also defeated measures to create open primary elections in which candidates of all parties appear on the same ballot, with a certain number advancing to the general election.
School choice
Voters sided against school choice in both Kentucky and Nebraska. Kentucky voters defeated an amendment to the state Constitution that would have allowed lawmakers to use state funds for private schools. In Nebraska, voters repealed a new state law that funds private school tuition with state dollars.
Sports betting
In Colorado, where sports betting launched in 2020, voters approved a measure allowing the state to keep more than the original $29 million limit on sports betting tax revenue.
Missouri voters, meanwhile, were deciding whether to become the latest to legalize sports betting. A total of 38 states and Washington, D.C., already allow sports betting, which has expanded rapidly since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it in 2018.
Redistricting
In Ohio, voters defeated an initiative that would have created a 15-member citizens commission to handle redistricting for U.S. House and state legislative seats and required the share of districts favoring each political party to reflect the proportion of votes won in previous statewide elections.
Ohio’s districts were created after the 2020 census by a Republican-led commission of elected state officials and were repeatedly deemed by courts to be unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans.
Supporters of the defeated constitutional amendment asserted that it would “ban partisan gerrymandering.” But the ballot title presented to voters – approved by a Republican-led board – stated it would have done the opposite via a commission “required to gerrymander” districts to favor political parties.
Minimum wage
Missouri voters approved a measure to gradually raise the minimum wages to $15 an hour while also requiring paid sick leave. A similar measure was on the ballot in Alaska. A California measure to incrementally raise the minimum wage for all employers to $18 an hour had yet to be decided.
Voters in Arizona rejected a measure that would have let tipped workers be paid 25% less than the minimum wage, so long as tips pushed their total pay beyond the minimum wage threshold. In Massachusetts, voters defeated a measure that would have gradually raised the minimum wage for tipped employees until it matches the rate for other employees.
Nebraska voters approved a measure to require many employers to provide sick leave, but it would not change wages.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.