Category: Ballot measures
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Ohio Senate passes measure to require 60% vote requirement to approve constitutional amendments
The Ohio State Senate passed an amendment that would raise the threshold for voters to approve ballot measures that would amend the Ohio Constitution. The amendment passed the Senate by 26-7 on April 19, 2023, with all Republicans voting for the amendment and all Democrats voting against it. It needs to pass the Ohio House…
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Abortion related-ballot measures in 2023 and 2024
Maryland and New York voters will be deciding on two abortion-related ballot measures in Nov. 2024. Measures have been proposed in several other states. Maryland voters will decide whether to establish a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include "decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy,” in its state constitution. If approved, Maryland will…
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Florida state legislature approves constitutional amendment to make school board elections partisan
The Florida State Senate gave final approval to House Joint Resolution 31, a constitutional amendment to make school board elections partisan. School board members in Florida are elected by the voters of the county and serve four-year terms. Currently, voters elect five or more members in a nonpartisan election. Each county makes up a school…
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Iowa to vote in 2024 on gubernatorial succession amendment
The Iowa State Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the 2024 ballot that would create a system of succession in the case of temporary or permanent disability of the governor. The amendment would provide that if the governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor would assume the office of governor for…
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Update on this year’s and next year’s ballot measure certifications
As of April 18, 2023, six statewide measures have been certified for the ballot in four states for elections in 2023. That’s the same as the average number (6) certified at this point in other odd-numbered years from 2011 to 2021. For 2024, 28 statewide measures have been certified in 16 states. That’s 10 more…
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Colorado voters will decide in 2024 on expanding property tax exemption for veterans with disabilities
Colorado voters will decide on a constitutional amendment in 2024 that would expand the homestead property tax exemption for veterans with service-related disabilities. Currently, veterans in Colorado who are rated as 100% permanently disabled qualify for a homestead property tax exemption that exempts 50% of the first $200,000 of a property's actual value from property…
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Arkansas voters to decide constitutional amendment in 2024 concerning grants and scholarships for vocational-technical schools
Arkansas voters will decide on a constitutional amendment in 2024 to allow the state's lottery proceeds to be used to fund grants and scholarships for vocational-technical schools and technical institutes. The amendment was introduced as House Joint Resolution 1006 on February 7, 2023. It was passed in the House on April 4, 2023, by a…
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Iowa to vote in 2024 on amendment to require citizenship to vote in state elections and to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries
In November 2024, voters in Iowa will decide on a constitutional amendment related to defining who can vote. The constitutional amendment would do the following: prohibit the state and local governments from allowing noncitizens to vote by providing that only a citizen of the U.S., rather than every citizen of the U.S., can vote, and…
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New York voters will decide debt limits for small city school districts in 2023
In New York, voters will decide on a constitutional amendment to remove the debt limit on small city school districts at the election on Nov. 7, 2023. The New York Constitution places a debt limit on small city school districts, which are defined as districts located in cities with fewer than 125,000 inhabitants. The debt…
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Amendment to prohibit nongovernmental funds to fund elections introduced in Louisiana House
A constitutional amendment was introduced in the Louisiana House of Representatives on April 3 that would prohibit funds from a foreign government or any nongovernmental source to be used to conduct elections. As of January 2023, 24 states had enacted legislation to prohibit private funding for election administration. According to NCSL, these laws were enacted…