On Feb. 22, the DC Committee to Build a Better Restaurant Industry submitted 34,000 signatures to the D.C. Board of Elections in an effort to place Initiative 82 on the June ballot. Initiative 82 would incrementally increase the tipped minimum wage from $5.05 in 2021 to match the minimum wage of non-tipped employees in 2027.…
The signature deadline for Utah initiatives passed on Feb. 15, 2022. Secure Vote Utah collected signatures for an initiative that would have required a valid state-issued ID to vote and would have made in-person voting on election day the primary voting method (rather than voting by mail). As of 10:50 a.m. local time on Feb.…
Sponsors of a North Dakota initiative to create term limits for the governor and state legislators submitted 46,000 signatures on Feb. 15, 2022. To qualify for the ballot, 31,164 valid signatures are required. The Secretary of State has until March 22, 2022, to certify whether the measure will appear on the November 8 ballot. The…
Abortion has been a perennial issue for statewide ballot measures since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Since 2000, there have been just two general election cycles, 2002 and 2016, without abortion-related statewide ballot measures. In 2022, there will be at least four ballot measures addressing abortion — the most since 1986. If proponents of another…
On Feb. 8, the Vermont House of Representatives took the final vote to send Proposal 5 to the November ballot. Proposal 5 would add language to the Vermont Constitution stating that “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course.” The amendment would prohibit…
Massachusetts voters could decide on an initiative in November to classify app-based drivers as independent contractors similar to California’s 2020 Proposition 22. Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers, the committee registered to support the app-based driver initiative, reported receiving $17.8 million in 2021. The committee’s largest donor was Lyft, which contributed nearly $14.4 million in…
On Jan. 13, 2022, Alaskans for Better Government submitted about 56,200 signatures for the ballot initiative. The ballot initiative would provide for formal state recognition of federally recognized American Indian tribes in Alaska. Alaska has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equal to 7% of the vote in the last general election must…
Ballotpedia is tracking 20 citizen-initiated measures in nine states related to marijuana that could appear before voters in 2022. As of 2022, recreational marijuana is legal in 18 states and Washington, D.C., and medical marijuana is legal in 36 states and D.C. In Ohio, sponsors of an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana submitted an additional…
On Jan. 10, the Austin City Clerk announced that an initiative to decriminalize marijuana and prohibit no-knock warrants had qualified for the ballot. Proponents submitted over 20,000 valid signatures meeting the required number to appear on the local ballot. The clerk used a random sampling method of 25% of signatures submitted or 8,334 raw signatures…
California voters decided 46 local ballot measures on seven different election dates in 2021. Ballotpedia’s report breaks down the measures by the outcome, county, topic, and election date. Here are some highlights from Ballotpedia’s annual report on local ballot measures in California: Voters approved 35 measures and defeated 11 measures. With 46 measures, 2021 featured…