2025 and 2026 ballot measure totals trend above averages for odd and even years

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Thursday, March 20, Brew. 

By: Lara Bonatesta

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. 2025 and 2026 ballot measure totals trend above averages for odd and even years 
  2. Minnesota Supreme Court dismisses all recalls against state House Democrats
  3. This week’s On the Ballot features our comprehensive ballot measure coverage in Ohio

2025 and 2026 ballot measure totals trend above averages for odd and even years

Each month, Ballotpedia brings you updates on the latest developments in the world of ballot measures. 

As of March 18, six statewide measures have been certified for the 2025 ballot in three states: Louisiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Between November 2024 and January 2025, all three states’ Legislatures voted to send the measures to voters. 

  • Louisiana voters will decide on four statewide ballot measures on March 29.
  • Wisconsin voters will decide on Question 1 on April 1. Question 1 would amend the state’s constitution to require photo identification to vote. Click here to see our Daily Brew coverage of that amendment. 
  • Ohio voters will decide on Issue 2 on May 6. The amendment would allow the state to issue up to $2.5 billion in general obligation bonds to assist local governments in funding public infrastructure improvement projects.

Here’s how this year’s total number of ballot measures compares to previous years.

Eighteen ballot measures have been certified for the 2026 ballot in 13 states, up from the average of 13 for this point in an even-numbered-year election cycle since 2010. These include the following six legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, all of which were approved for the ballot between Feb. 12 and March 11. Here’s an overview:

The South Dakota Legislature passed four bills to put the following amendments on the 2026 ballot.

The Utah Legislature passed two bills – Senate Joint Resolution 2 and House Joint Resolution 10 – to put the following amendments before voters. Both amendments would affect the state’s ballot measure processes. (Click here to see our Daily Brew coverage of these amendments)

Four measures are pending before state legislatures in Alaska, Maine, and Nevada, where the initiative process is indirect. This means that each state’s respective legislature will first consider the initiatives, and if it rejects or does not act on them, the measures will be put on the ballot. The measures include:

Click here to sign up for our State Ballot Measure Monthly.

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Minnesota Supreme Court dismisses all recalls against state House Democrats

On March 17, the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed the recall petitions the Minnesota Republican Party filed against 29 Democratic members of the state House.

As we mentioned last month, the Minnesota Republican Party originally announced plans on Feb. 4 to file recall petitions against all 66 House Democrats who participated in the three-week boycott at the start of the 2025 legislative session. However, Minnesota Republicans only filed recall petitions against 29 House members.

Once the Minnesota Supreme Court receives a proposed recall petition from the secretary of state, state law  states that the chief justice must then “determine whether it alleges specific facts that, if proven, would constitute grounds for recall of the officer under the Minnesota Constitution.” Click here to learn more about how recalls work in Minnesota.

In the order, Chief Justice Natalie Hudson wrote that “the petitions fail to state specific facts which, if proven, would establish that any malfeasance (or nonfeasance) was serious” and that “Each of the recall petitions is dismissed for failure to allege specific facts that, if proven, would constitute grounds for recall.”

According to the Minnesota Constitution, recalls can be initiated on the grounds of malfeasance, nonfeasance, or serious crime. Republicans argued that Democrats’ private swearing-in ceremony constituted malfeasance, meaning an unlawful action committed in their duties as elected officials. They also argued that the Democrats’ boycott constituted nonfeasance, meaning the failure to perform their official duties.

Hudson addressed the allegations of nonfeasance and malfeasance individually.

  • She wrote that Democrats’ return to the Capitol on Feb. 6 undermined the allegation of nonfeasance: “Critically, this concession also fatally undermines the alleged seriousness of any nonfeasance as alleged in the petitions, which is an independent requirement for recall.” 
  • On the allegation of malfeasance, Hudson wrote, “Petitioners’ argument is solely that malfeasance occurred because an election certificate needed to be presented at the time the oath was taken. This allegation of malfeasance must be dismissed because it has not alleged an act that is unlawful or wrongful.”

In response to the ruling, House DFL leader Melissa Hortman said, “Chief Justice Hudson made the right decision in dismissing Republicans’ frivolous recall petitions. Now that the Minnesota House is tied 67-67 and operating under a power-sharing agreement, we hope Republicans will finally abandon their political games and work with us on a bipartisan basis to do the work voters sent us here to do.”

Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Alex Plechash said, “The DFL may have escaped consequences in the short term, but Minnesota voters will have the final say on whether skipping work, shutting down the legislative process, and demanding to be paid for it is worthy of re-election.” 

ICYMI, here’s how we got here:

  • Democrats lost their House majority in the 2024 elections after Republicans gained three seats, resulting in a 67-67 split chamber. A vacancy in District 40B created a temporary 67-66 Republican majority at the start of the 2025 session. 
  • Because there must be a 68-member quorum for the House to conduct business, Democrats boycotted the beginning of the session, preventing Republicans from establishing chamber control. Democrats swore in their members at a private, off-site ceremony.
  • On Feb. 4, the Minnesota Republican Party launched a recall effort against all House Democrats. 
  • On Feb. 5, lawmakers reached a power-sharing agreement, ending the boycott. The agreement did not require the state Republican Party to end the recall effort. House Democrats returned to the Capitol on Feb. 6. 
  • House control was again split 67-67 following Rep. David Gottfried‘s (D) victory in the special election for District 40B on March 11. Gottfried assumed office on March 17. With Gottfried’s swearing-in, the House returned to the power-sharing agreement lawmakers negotiated in February in which Democrats and Republicans share committee power (among other terms).

See our full previous coverage of the boycott, recalls, and the District 40B election in the following editions of the Brew:

Recall success rates

Ballotpedia identified 186 recall efforts against 168 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2024. During that time, 40 recalls made the ballot, and 22 state legislators were successfully removed from office. 

The chart below shows the number of officials who faced recall efforts from 2012 to 2024, the number of officials voters retained, and the number of officials who were removed from office.

To see our complete coverage of the recall effort in Minnesota, click here.

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This week’s On the Ballot features our comprehensive ballot measure coverage in Ohio

In this week’s new episode of On The Ballot, host Geoff Pallay and Ballotpedia’s Ryan Byrne discuss Ballotpedia’s Historical Ballot Measures Factbook and feature our 114 years of comprehensive ballot measure coverage in Ohio.

As we’ve mentioned in earlier editions of the Brew, our factbook will document nearly 200 years of direct democracy in the United States. This ongoing research effort will provide an unparalleled resource for researchers, reporters, and the public on how ballot measures have evolved, the issues they have covered, and their role in our civic life.

This week’s episode features a small selection of the ballot measures and stories from our Ohio factbook, which spans from 1910 to 2024.

So far, we’ve published factbooks for eight states, and we’ll eventually publish them for all 50. Click on the links below to see our factbook pages for:

Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app, or click on the link below to listen.

Listen here