Category: Ballot measures
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Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative submits second round of signatures ahead of July 1 deadline
On June 17, Voter Choice Massachusetts, which is sponsoring the Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative, announced that it had submitted 25,000 signatures to city and town clerks. For this second round, 13,374 valid signatures are required to qualify for the November ballot. The initiative would enact ranked-choice voting for elections in Massachusetts, excluding presidential electors, county…
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Colorado to vote on repeal of Gallagher Amendment
The Colorado Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the 2020 ballot that would repeal the Gallagher Amendment of 1982. The Gallagher Amendment limits the residential and non-residential property tax assessment rates so that residential property tax revenue equals 45% of the total share of state property tax revenue and non-residential property tax revenue equals 55%…
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Louisiana parishes to vote on sports betting in November
On June 12, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) signed Senate Bill 130 (SB 130) that will ask the voters in each of Louisiana’s 64 parishes whether or not to authorize sports betting within the parish. If a majority of voters in a parish support authorizing sports betting, sports betting would be allowed in the…
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Colorado Legislature gives final approval to a charitable bingo and raffles amendment and a cigarette tax increase measure
On Monday, the Colorado State Legislature sent two measures to the November 2020 ballot. One measure would amend the state constitution to require charitable organizations to have existed for three years before obtaining a charitable gaming license instead of the current constitutional requirement of five years. The amendment would allow charitable organizations to hire managers…
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Proponents of a veto referendum in Washington file signatures to repeal a bill requiring comprehensive sexual health education in public schools
Parents for Safe Schools, sponsors of Referendum 90, submitted 266,000 signatures to the Washington Secretary of State’s office on Wednesday. To qualify the referendum for the November ballot,129,811 of the signatures must be valid. Referendum 90 petitioners seek to repeal Senate Bill 5395, which was signed by Governor Jay Inslee (D) on March 27, 2020. Senate…
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California Assembly passes bill for ballot measure to repeal Proposition 209, which banned considering race and sex in public jobs, education, and contracting in 1996
On June 10, the California State Assembly passed a constitutional amendment to repeal Proposition 209, which received 54.55 percent of the vote in 1996. Proposition 209 prohibited the state from considering race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. In California, a two-thirds vote is…
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Atlanta voters approve measure to reauthorize 1% sales tax to fund water and sewer projects
Voters in Atlanta, Georgia, approved a measure Tuesday reauthorizing the city to levy the 1% Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST). With 89 precincts reporting, the vote was 71% in favor to 29% against. Going into the election, the city levied a 1% sales tax that was set to expire on September 30, 2020. This measure…
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Reclaim Idaho filed a lawsuit seeking more time to gather signatures and permission to use electronic signatures
Reclaim Idaho, sponsors of the Idaho Income Tax Increases for Education Funding Initiative, filed a lawsuit against Governor Brad Little (R) and Secretary of State Lawerence Denney (R) seeking a preliminary injunction to grant the campaign 48 more days to gather signatures and temporary permission to use electronic signatures. The campaign announced on March 18…
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Coloradans will decide a ballot initiative in November that would prohibit abortions after 22 weeks gestational age
Initiative #120, sponsored by Due Date Too Late, was designed to prohibit abortions after a fetus reaches 22 weeks gestational age as calculated from the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period (LMP). To qualify for the ballot, 124,632 valid signatures were required. Sponsors submitted 114,647 valid signatures on the March 4 deadline and…
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Louisiana Legislature sends five constitutional amendments to the 2020 ballot and a sports betting measures to the governor’s desk
The Louisiana State Legislature adjourned its 2020 regular session on June 1, 2020, and immediately started a special session to consider the state’s annual budget bill for the fiscal year beginning July 1. During the 2020 regular session, the state legislature referred five constitutional amendments to the 2020 ballot for voter approval or rejection: House…