July 30, 2023
A great deal of other issues were included in ballots in 2022. From alternatively helping and hurting labor unions to granting children free school meals, these, just like the ones discussed in our previous article, available here, will have a wide-ranging impact on hundreds of millions of American lives.
Election administration
Six states saw elections-related issues end up on the ballot. Of these, four ballot measures protect voting rights, one restricts them and one has little to no effect.
Requirements for photo identification were on the ballot in two states: Arizona and Nebraska. This requirement has been roundly panned by voting rights advocates, who recognize that these constitute an undue burden on voters without meaningfully impacting election security. Voter I.D. requirements disproportionately target minorities and are used to ensure they have lower rates of participation in elections through often confusing requirements. For example, in Texas, a permit to carry a firearm can be used to vote but not a student I.D.
By the thinnest of margins, Arizona proved it is a swing state on the issues as well, rejecting their voter photo I.D. proposition by just 0.8%. In contrast, solidly Republican Nebraska approved their initiative with a 31.2% margin.
Alabama voters, meanwhile, approved an amendment meant to mitigate the confusion now caused by constant Republican changes to election laws. The amendment’s ratification, by a 60% margin of victory, means that any change to state election law is now required to enter into effect at least six months prior to any general election. While this does not prevent officials from continuing to change the rules of the game, it does at least give Alabamians some time to become informed on the issues.
Connecticut, previously one of the most restrictive states for voting in the nation, finally approved an amendment allowing early voting to take place. This amendment has already been proven to be a gamechanger in the state, with state legislators instantly taking advantage of the restrictions being lifted, enacting long early voting periods that are going to drastically change how the state’s elections are administered. Voting rights, under attack throughout the nation, have been fortified, at least, here. The people proved their popular support for these changes with a 20.4% margin of victory.
Nevada’s elections, meanwhile, will also see an overhaul. The traditional first-past-the-post system that allows candidates to win the election with only a basic plurality of the vote is to be scrapped, instead replaced with a top five primary system in which, as the name suggests, the top five finishers will be on the general election ballot. Then, they can be voted on through ranked-choice voting, ensuring that the candidate with the broadest support wins.
This will cause elections to be called a bit later than is typical, but it will also result in increased democracy. These voting changes, while beneficial, will require voter education. Indeed, that problem may have been why their question was only approved by a small, though bipartisan, 5.8% margin of victory.
In Ohio, meanwhile, an amendment to prevent non-citizens from voting in local elections passed with a commanding 54.2% margin. Being able to vote and determine one’s own leaders is one of the main benefits of becoming a citizen, and allowing non-citizens to vote both cheapens the overall value of citizenship and undermines democracy. Non-citizens must be citizens before being able to vote in any election. The huge popular support behind this amendment proves that the voters understand that point of view. Louisiana approved a similar amendment on Dec. 10.
A new constitution
One state, Alabama, stood apart from all of the rest, however. It was the only state to ratify a new constitution – a rare and fascinating move. Last written in 1901, Alabama’s constitution had had many issues, including racist and exclusive language, a byproduct of the Jim Crow era in which it was written.
Additionally, Alabama’s constitution had been amended over 1,000 times, causing it to be rather confusing. In fact, it was amended so many times that it became the longest constitution in the nation, longer even than every single article on this website combined, to date.
The 2022 constitution was written, according to the state’s Fair Ballot Commission, with the intent of removing the racist and outdated language, removing parts of the constitution that had been amended out, and then rearranging the constitution by general topic and then by the counties that specific amendments apply to.
Ultimately, the amendment passed with a 49% margin of victory and was promulgated by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey on Nov. 28. It is the first new state constitution since Rhode Island adopted its 1987 constitution.
Further ballot issues
These were the most major ballot issues, but that does not mean they were the only ones.
In Arizona, for example, voters decided to bring back the position of lieutenant governor. In a state that has seen an abnormally high number of gubernatorial vacancies arise, this will ensure that someone elected with the governor, and thus of the same party, will be able to carry on the will of the voters. Previously, the secretary of state, who was often of a different party than the governor they succeeded, acceded to that position.
Colorado, meanwhile, approved a proposition to remove certain tax deductions in return for funding universal free meals for students, helping to cut down on childhood hunger and improve the health and wellbeing of the state’s future.
Workers’ rights were protected in Illinois, where a newly approved amendment enshrined a constitutional right for workers to organize and to collectively bargain. This prevents a future Illinois legislature from cracking down on workers’ rights and continues to build upon the nascent stages of what appears to be a rebirth of the pro-union movement.
Nevada approved another major amendment, putting equal rights for all, regardless of “race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin,” into the state’s constitution. This major victory for the equal rights movement ensures that minorities, women, the LG.B.T. community and others will have the state guarantee their civil rights, for which they have fought so long.
The state also approved a minimum wage amendment, raising it from $11 per hour to $12 per hour by next year, helping to deliver a bit of relief to those most affected by inflation.
Oregon, meanwhile, cracked down on gun violence by a miniscule 1.3% margin, limiting magazine capacity to 10 rounds, requiring permits to buy firearms and establishing reasonable requirements for obtaining those permits. The amendment is currently the subject of litigation, but does strike a well-thought out balance between the right to bear arms and the rights of Americans to not get shot.
The state also has a major problem in the legislature, where Republicans have boycotted sessions in order to prevent a quorum from being obtained and thus legislative sessions from accomplishing any business. Now, those who participate in such an abrogation of their duty to the people shall be barred from seeking re-election if they accrue 10 or more unexcused absences.
Importantly, South Dakota also finally expanded Medicaid, becoming one of the most recent states to do so and finally bypassing their intransigent legislature, controlled by radical Republicans who operate with the philosophy of “free for me, socialism for you.” Now, working South Dakotans and their families will have access to the healthcare they so deserve.
“Amendment D will expand healthcare access to 42,500 South Dakoatans who fall in the Affordable Care Act gap. They make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to qualify for A.C.A. subsidies on the marketplace,” explained Senator Nesiba.
Democratic Representative Linda Duba of Sioux Falls elaborated on a specific issue that Medicaid expansion will help to address, saying “In today’s environment, if individuals feel sick and they don’t have the funds to go to the doctor, these conditions worsen. Then it becomes a debilitating problem for them, or they become in such debt because it’s severe. This Medicaid expansion is going to get them the care that they need, especially with our Native American population, with the…health conditions they face on the reservations.”
Unfortunately, these amendments, which are usually not conservative in nature, do not always conform to expectations. Going in the opposite direction as Illinois, Tennessee approved an amendment to put “right to work” language in the state constitution, further attacking unions and making it even harder for progress to be achieved in that state, already famous for its reputation for being hostile to workers.
Notable pre-general election issues
There were two more major amendments on the ballot earlier in 2022.
In Kansas, voters shocked the nation on Aug. 2, when they decisively crushed an anti-abortion amendment to the constitution that would have overrode Kansas Supreme Court precedent and allowed the state’s Republican-dominated legislature to implement new abortion restrictions. The creatively worded amendment was written to confuse voters, but they turned out to see right through Republicans’ shady tricks and, in a bipartisan rejection of radical policies, they proved that reproductive freedom held bipartisan appeal with a 17.9% margin of defeat.
The vote on that amendment changed the calculus for Democrats as they campaigned in the midterms and bears large credit for their subsequent overperformance.
South Dakota, meanwhile, crushed another amendment, an attack on democracy that would have mandated a 60% supermajority threshold for future constitutional amendments. Future initiatives for reproductive freedom and overturning unpopular acts by the state’s legislature would have been gravely threatened by that Republican-supported amendment, and its rejection by a smashing 34.8% margin of defeat on June 7, 2022.
Putting it all together
These ballot measures will have a unique impact on American political development. Whereas most of the time, the people elect representatives to decide on these policies indirectly, voting on ballot issues allows people to directly decide the fate of these policies.
Their voices have been heard and, in most cases, they had a positive impact. Now democracy is strengthened, and as these ballot measures continue to be implemented, their impacts will continue to be felt.
The Colorado State Capitol. Charles Horowitz for Policy Reform Now.
By Charles Horowitz
Policy Reform Now 
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