The Washington Examiner compiled some of the most interesting ballot measures in the 2020 election and will update results as they come in. See below for summaries of each.
• Florida — A $15 minimum wage: Floridians approved a ballot measure on Tuesday that would gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, according to the New York Times.
The state’s minimum wage is currently set at $8.56, which is higher than the $7.25 federal minimum wage. Increasing the state’s minimum wage to $15 was backed by Florida for a Fair Wage. It argued that the increase was needed to ensure that Floridians would be able to make ends meet without having to rely on government assistance.
• California — Rolling back AB 5, the law that classified Uber drivers as employees: California voters approved a ballot measure, the country’s most expensive ever, that will allow companies like Uber to classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, according to the New York Times.
Over 58% of voters supported it.
The measure, Proposition 22, permits app-based drivers to remain as contractors, partially reversing the historic 2019 legislation AB 5.
Over $226 million was spent on the measure between groups who supported and opposed it, according to the Los Angeles Times.
• Colorado — 22-week abortion ban: Coloradans rejected a ballot measure that would have limited the gestational age at which an abortion can be performed to 22 weeks.
The Associated Press reported that 59.3% of voters rejected the measure, compared with 40.7% of voters supporting the measure.
• Marijuana on the ballot in six states (four legalizations for recreational, two for medicinal): Five states asked voters to consider measures to lift restrictions on marijuana use and possession. Ballot initiatives in Republican-led Arizona and South Dakota and Democratic-led Montana and New Jersey addressed legalizing recreational marijuana.
Voters in Mississippi, a deeply red state, weighed a pair of ballot questions to approve a medical marijuana program.
In all five states, the pro-legalization side prevailed.
• Oregon — Decriminalizing all drugs: Oregon became the first state to decriminalize small amounts of all illegal drugs.
Ballot Measure 110 passed with about 59% of the vote. It removes criminal penalties, including prison time, for possessing small amounts of controlled substances.
• Washington D.C. — Decriminalizing the use of magic mushrooms: D.C. voters approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize the use of magic mushrooms and other psychedelic substances.
Initiative 81, known as the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, calls upon the city’s attorney general and the U.S. Attorney for D.C. to “cease prosecution of residents of the District of Columbia for these activities.”
• Rhode Island — Removing “Providence Plantations” from official state name: A ballot measure to simplify the name to just “Rhode Island” passed with more than 52% of the vote, according to the Associated Press.
The full name, which was adopted in 1636 when a British royal charter joined two separate colonies, has long been the subject of debate. Detractors say that the word “plantations” draws up memories of slavery, while defenders note that Rhode Island was never a slave state. The ballot measure was introduced this year after the death of George Floyd inspired months of protests nationwide.
• Massachusetts — Ranked voting: Bay Staters decided to reject ranked-choice voting in future elections.
The Yes 2 campaign, the group pushing for ranked-choice, conceded early Wednesday morning after it became clear that it could not surmount the 55%-45% gap in polling.
Ranked-choice voting, a system common in other countries but not the United States, requires people to cast ballots by listing candidates in order of favorite to least favorite and devises a method by which candidates must win more than 50% of the vote to declare victory. Proponents in Massachusetts pushed for its implementation in all but presidential and a handful of local elections.
• California — Repealing ban on affirmative action: Californians voted to keep a long-standing affirmative action ban.
The effort to keep the ban won by a wide margin, 56% to 43%, according to the Associated Press.
The ban, which was instituted in 1996, bars entities receiving government funds to discriminate based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. The proposition to overturn it was raised this summer after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
• Puerto Rico — Statehood: Puerto Ricans narrowly approved a nonbinding measure pushing it toward statehood.
The island territory voted 52%-48% in favor of the ballot measure, according to the Associated Press. About 50% of voters showed up to the polls, up from the 23% who turned out in 2017, the last time the question was put forward.
The vote, the sixth of its kind since 1967, was put on the ballot after a 2017 measure passed but was deemed by many to be illegitimate. Proponents of the latest ballot question, whose language is unapproved by the Justice Department, hoped that its straightforward wording would entice more support.
• Alaska — Increasing taxes on oil production: Oil majors ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP, as well as Hilcorp Energy, spent millions to defeat an Alaskan measure that would raise the tax on oil and gas produced in certain areas of the North Slope.
Supporters of the measure say the current tax system has led to a budget crisis in the oil-dependent state. Opponents say raising taxes would worsen a difficult market situation for oil producers that are struggling through the pandemic-fueled price crash and encourage companies to shift investments to other states.
