Author: Victoria Antram
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The voter registration deadline for Texas statewide election is Oct. 4
The voter registration deadline for the November 2, 2021 election in Texas is Oct. 4. Prospective voters can request a postage-paid voter registration form online or complete the form online and return it to the county voter registrar. Applications are also available at a variety of locations including the county voter registrar’s office, the secretary…
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2021 statewide ballot measures written at second-year graduate school reading level
The ballot language for the 39 ballot measures appearing on nine statewide ballots in 2021 is written at an average reading grade level of 18 (second-year graduate school), up from 15 in 2019. Ballotpedia’s annual readability analysis of ballot titles and summaries of ballot measures was conducted using two formulas, the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE)…
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Texas Supreme Court orders city council to use Save Austin Now’s ballot language for police measure
Austin voters will decide a ballot measure related to police staffing, training requirements, and demographic representation in hiring on November 2, 2021. The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the city council had to use the caption drafted by the measure’s sponsor, Save Austin Now, rather than the language approved by the city council…
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Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey clears 17 ballot initiatives for signature gathering
On September 1, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D) announced that 17 ballot initiatives of the 30 filed were cleared for signature gathering. The 17 initiatives included 16 initiated state statutes aiming for the 2022 ballot and one initiated constitutional amendment that would appear on the 2024 ballot. The initiatives cleared for signature gathering address:…
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Texas legislature refers constitutional amendment to May 2022 ballot
Texas voters will decide on a constitutional amendment related to a property tax reduction for elderly and disabled residents on May 7, 2022. The amendment was passed during the second special legislative session, which convened on Aug. 7, 2021. The amendment would authorize the state legislature to reduce the property tax limit for school maintenance…
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Initiative filed in Massachusetts to classify app-based drivers as independent contractors
On August 4, Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work filed two versions of a ballot initiative with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office that would classify app-based transportation (rideshare) and delivery drivers as independent contractors. It would also adopt labor and wage policies specific to app-based drivers and companies. The initiative is similar to California’s Proposition 22…
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Texas deputy secretary of state draws ballot order for November ballot measures
On July 29, Texas Deputy Secretary of State Joe Esparza drew the ballot order for the eight constitutional amendments referred to the November ballot during the state legislature’s regular session. The deadline to add a measure to the ballot is August 16. However, with a lack of quorum in the Texas House of Representatives due…
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Missouri Supreme Court upholds Medicaid expansion amendment
On July 22, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a constitutional amendment enacting Medicaid expansion was constitutional. The decision reversed a lower court’s ruling that found the amendment approved by voters last August to be unconstitutional because it did not include a revenue source for the state to pay for the Medicaid expansion. The…
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$15 per hour minimum wage initiative qualifies for November ballot in Tucson, Arizona
On July 22, 2021, the Tucson City Clerk confirmed that enough signatures were submitted for an initiative backed by Tucson Fight for $15 to qualify for the November 2 ballot. On July 2, Tucson Fight for $15, the campaign behind a local minimum wage increase, submitted 29,526 raw signatures to the city’s clerk office. In…
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Citizens For A Safer Cleveland submits additional signatures to place police-related initiative on November ballot
On July 7, Citizens for a Safer Cleveland submitted an additional 3,208 signatures to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections for verification after the committee was short 384 of the 6,270 valid signatures needed to qualify for the Cleveland ballot in November. On June 16, the committee announced that they had submitted about 13,000 signatures…