Category: Ballot measures
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78% fewer local ballot measures on Nov. 2 ballots in California than average since 2009
On Nov. 2, voters in 15 different cities, school districts, and special districts in 10 different California counties will decide 16 local ballot measures. The average number of local California ballot measures on the November ballot in odd-numbered years since 2009 was 74. In 2019, there were 45, and in 2017 there were 62. One…
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Voters in Juneau, Alaska, decide Tuesday whether to renew a 3% sales tax
On Oct. 5, voters in Juneau, Alaska, will decide a ballot measure—Proposition 1—to renew the city’s 3% temporary sales tax for five years. If voters don’t approve Proposition 1 the tax would expire on July 1, 2022. If voters approve Proposition 1, the city’s total sales tax rate would remain at 5%: this 3% temporary…
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Arizona voters to decide local minimum wage increase, bond issues, school budget override, and charter amendments in November
Ballotpedia is covering 11 local ballot measures in Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, and Tucson on November 2, 2021. In Chandler, voters will decide five bond issues totaling $272,685,000: Question 1: Authorizes $72,985,000 in bonds to construct, improve, and acquire city parks and recreational facilities Question 2: Authorizes $25,160,000 in bonds to construct, renovate, and equip city…
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Lawsuit filed seeking to remove Amendment 78 from Colorado’s November ballot
Scott Wasserman of the Bell Policy Center and Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court arguing that the Colorado Secretary of State’s office improperly certified Amendment 78 for the ballot. The plaintiffs asked the court to either remove the measure from the ballot or order that votes for the measure…
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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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District judge rules against ballot initiative to replace Minneapolis Police Department; Supreme Court will hear appeal
Voters in Minneapolis will see a citizen-initiated charter amendment on their ballots to replace the Minneapolis Police Department. On Sept. 14, however, District Court Judge Jamie Anderson ruled that the ballot question for the proposal was unreasonable and misleading and enjoined election officials from counting votes on Nov. 2. On Sept. 15, the Minnesota Supreme…
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Florida Realtors suspends initiative campaign after making compromise deal with state legislators
On Sept. 7, 2021, Floridians for Housing, a ballot initiative committee sponsored by the Florida Realtors, said they were suspending their campaign. The initiative would have created state and local government housing trust funds to “address affordable housing access and availability, including funding of programs addressing new construction, down payment and closing cost assistance, rehabilitation,…
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Minneapolis City Council approves new ballot question for initiative to replace Minneapolis Police Department
On Sept. 7, the Minneapolis City Council held an emergency meeting to adopt language for a citizen-initiated measure to replace the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) with a Department of Public Safety (DPS). The 12-1 vote came hours after District Court Judge Jamie Anderson struck down the then-existing language as “vague to the point of being…
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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…