What’s next for a possible abortion ballot measure in Florida
Floridians Protecting Freedom submitted 911,169 valid signatures to place an initiative on the November 2024 ballot that would provide a constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability, which is estimated to be around 24 weeks, or when necessary to protect the patient’s health.
The amendment will appear on the 2024 ballot if the Florida Supreme Court approves the measure’s ballot language. Florida is the only state where a state supreme court must review a ballot measure’s language during or after the signature drive.
San Francisco to vote on minimum police staffing charter amendment on March 5
Voters in San Francisco, California, will decide on a policing-related charter amendment, Proposition B, on March 5, 2024.
Proposition B would amend the city’s charter regarding minimum police officer staffing levels and establish a fund for police officer recruitment and staffing. However, these provisions would only go into effect if voters approve a new tax or amend an existing tax in the future to fund the provisions.
What we learned from identifying nearly 10,000 endorsements in local school board elections in 2023
Last year, Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of school board elections in Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
These 10 states held 5,254 elections for 8,758 school board seats, representing a little more than 10% of all school board seats nationwide. Here are a few of the takeaways from our research on endorsements in those elections:
- Local Democratic and Republican parties issued the most endorsements
- Candidates without an endorsement won 73% of races
- 53% of school board elections were uncontested
- School board results tended to mirror the partisan lean of their districts
Proponents of veto referendum use new state law to withdraw measure on fast food employment law
On Dec. 29, the Save Our Local Restaurants PAC withdrew a veto referendum from the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot that sought to repeal California Assembly Bill 257 (AB 257). AB 257 would establish a 10-member fast food council authorized to adopt a minimum wage for fast food restaurant employees not to exceed $22 per hour.
This is the first veto referendum withdrawn under a new California law, Assembly Bill 421, passed in September 2023. This law allows veto referendum proponents to withdraw their qualified referendum at least 131 days before the election.