Voters Across the Country Amend Their Constitutions

Voters in 41 states considered ballot measures in Tuesday’s election, most of which would amend their state constitutions, on issues including abortion, marijuana, and changes to their election procedures.

Ballot measures give citizens a direct way to influence policy and legal frameworks in their states. They can also provide a more granular window into the policy preferences of voters than presidential or congressional results.

This is how some of the most closely watched measures fared.

Seven states voted in favor of abortion rights.

Voters in 10 states considered abortion-related amendments. Missouri became the first state to undo a strict abortion ban; its amendment would allow abortion through viability, generally around 23 weeks. Abortion was legal in Arizona up to 15 weeks, but its new amendment will also protect access until viability.

Amendments in Florida and South Dakota failed, leaving bans in place. Results as of Friday morning show Florida’s amendment receiving around 57 percent of the vote, but constitutional amendments in Florida require 60 percent of the vote to pass.

Nebraskans approved a measure that would amend the state constitution to ban abortion after 12 weeks — the same threshold as current state law — with limited exceptions. A dueling measure that would have protected the right to abortion until viability failed.

Colorado, Montana, Maryland and New York all passed measures that would solidify the already-existing abortion rights in those states by incorporating them into those state constitutions. Nevada voters approved a similar measure, but state law requires voters to approve constitutional amendments in consecutive elections, so it will need to pass again in 2026 before taking effect.

Eight states added language to constitutions that “only” citizens can vote. 

Voters in eight states considered ballot measures to amend their state constitutions to add language that “only” citizens can vote in their elections. The measures were adopted in all eight states: Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wisconsin. The measures received significant support — above 60 percent — in each state.

It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal and state elections. Election experts say such initiatives are largely meant to spread the false narrative that noncitizen voting is an ongoing problem in order to sow doubt about the security of American elections. Conspiracy theories that noncitizens vote illegally in elections in numbers of any impact have been repeatedly debunked. In some states, these measures may prevent local governments from allowing noncitizens from voting in local elections, as a small number of cities do. 

Most proposed changes to election procedures failed.

Ballot measures calling for nonpartisan primaries or ranked choice voting, or both, were largely unpopular, with measures in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and South Dakota failing. A competing measure that would have amended Arizona’s constitution to require partisan primaries — the system the state currently uses and will continue to — also failed.

A measure to ban nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting, meanwhile, passed in Missouri. Similarly, as of Thursday evening, Alaskans were on track to repeal those systems of voting — just four years after they were approved by voters there.

Washington, DC, however, adopted ranked choice voting and allowed citizens not registered with either party to vote in primaries. Connecticut will amend its constitution to allow no-excuse absentee voting. Nevada approved its measure that would require all in-person voters to present identification and mail voters to include the last four digits of an identification number. Like that state’s abortion amendment, the measure will again go before voters in 2026.

Ohio voters opted not to establish a citizen-led independent redistricting process to replace its politically driven map-making system for legislative and congressional maps. (The Brennan Center had endorsed the proposed amendment.)

Results of minimum wage and workers’ rights measures were mixed.

California’s proposition that would raise the minimum wage over time to $18 was on pace to fail as of Friday morning, while voters in Missouri approved both a minimum wage hike to $15 an hour and paid sick leave. Nebraska and Alaska also passed measures allowing for paid leave.

Massachusetts allowed ride-share drivers, like gig-workers for Uber or Lyft, to unionize. The state also refused to increase, over time, how much employers have to pay tipped workers.

Voters largely opted to increase criminal penalties.

Nevada voted to remove language from its constitution that allowed involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, becoming the eighth state to do so since 2018. A similar measure in California is on track to fail.

Californians passed a proposition to increase penalties for repeated theft and certain drug crimes, while Arizona voted that anyone convicted of child sex trafficking must receive a sentence of life imprisonment. Voters in Arizona also approved including a $20 fee as part of any criminal conviction, with the money to be used toward a benefit payment for the families of first responders killed in the line of duty as the result of a criminal act.

School choice was unpopular.

Measures in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska about whether public funds could be allocated to private schools, known commonly as school choice, were unpopular with voters. Colorado’s would have established that each child from kindergarten through high school has a right to school choice. Nearly 65 percent of Kentucky voters disapproved of a measure that would have enabled its legislature to provide state funding to students outside of public schools. And Nebraskans voted to repeal authorization of a program to provide education scholarships to be used by students to attend private institutions.

Voters repealed language discriminating against people in same-sex relationships.

Voters in California, Colorado, and Hawaii all approved removing currently inoperable language from their constitutions that limits the availability of same-sex marriage. Proponents of the measures are concerned the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges recognizing a federal constitutional right to marriage equality.

Measures making it harder to amend state constitutions failed.

Legislatively referred ballot measures in Arizona and North Dakota that would have made it harder for future proposed amendments to get on the ballot were defeated.

Arizona’s measures would have allowed individuals to challenge proposed initiatives before final approval and added additional hurdles to the signature-gathering process by requiring a threshold of signatures from each legislative district, rather than statewide.

North Dakota voters also said no to increased signature requirements to place initiatives on the ballot and to requiring approval twice, first in the primary and then in the general election.

Voters disapproved of recreational drug legalization.

Voters in Massachusetts opted not to approve a measure that would have legalized some psychedelic substances.

An initiative that would have legalized recreational marijuana use in Florida received 56 percent of the vote, failing short of the 60 percent threshold needed to pass. Similar initiatives in North Dakota and South Dakota failed to receive the simple majority of votes needed in those states.

Meanwhile, two measures to legalize and regulate medicinal marijuana in Nebraska passed.

Measures about judiciaries had mixed results.

Arizonans voted against eliminating term limits for its state supreme court justices, while voters in New Hampshire appear to have approved an increase to its judges’ mandatory retirement age from 70 to 75. Coloradans approved the establishment of a new board to handle judicial ethics proceedings.

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Direct democracy — the ability of citizens to enact statutes or constitutional amendments by popular vote or to reject recently enacted legislation via a referendum — gives many Americans a say in state and local policies. But after measures pass, it is up to state courts to interpret them. The true impact of this year’s measures will become clear over the coming years as courts determine the scope of any new rights.

Erin Geiger Smith is a writer and editor at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Sarah Kessler is an adviser to State Court Report.

Zoe Merriman is the production coordinator for State Court Report.

Suggested Citation: Erin Geiger Smith, Sarah Kessler, & Zoe Merriman, Voters Across the Country Amend Their Constitutions, Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Cᴏᴜʀᴛ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ(Nov. 8, 2024), https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voters-across-country-amend-their-constitutions