Early voters waiting in line. While 2020 will see critical battles for control of the White House, Senate, and many state governments, voters will also weigh in on many important issues directly through ballot initiatives at the state and local level. Daily Kos Elections has compiled a spreadsheet that catalogs 69 different ballot measures on various topics, including some placed on the ballot by voters and others by state legislators.
You can find a table below detailing each of them. These measures cover topics such as health care, education, taxes, criminal justice, civil rights, voting rights, and even the structure of our democracy itself. Examples include Puerto Rico’s referendum on whether to seek statehood; marijuana legalization in Arizona, New Jersey, Montana, and South Dakota; major tax reforms in California; paid family and medical leave in Colorado; a progressive income tax in Illinois; and Republican attempts to make future ballot initiatives harder—precisely because progressive reformers have had such success in using initiatives to overcome obstinate state lawmakers.
It’s precisely because Republicans in Congress and in many state legislatures have refused to adopt policies benefiting everyday Americans that ballot measures have become a crucial tool for enacting meaningful changes. That’s especially […]