Over two years since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted Roe v. Wade, voters in seven states approved ballot measures expanding abortion access and reproductive freedom. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Montana and Nevada approved measures that will enshrine abortion rights into their state constitutions.
The state of Missouri made history as the first state to overturn a total abortion ban since Dobbs, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC), which tracks ballot measures. Voters on Tuesday approved Amendment 3, which allows for abortion up until fetal viability.
On the democracy front, voters in eight states backed measures prohibiting noncitizen voting, despite it already being illegal for people who aren’t citizens to vote in federal elections. Over the past year Republicans have amplified their campaign against noncitizen voting, particularly in the leadup to the election. In Ohio, voters rejected an amendment seeking to remove state and congressional redistricting powers from politicians and transition them to a citizen-led redistricting commission.
The outcome shows how important it’s become for states to codify certain protections into law. “Ballot measures can be one of the last lines of defense to push back against policies that harm our communities, especially those who have been marginalized and attacked like immigrants and trans people,” BISC’s Chris Melody Fields Figueredo said Wednesday.
“As we begin to forge a way forward, ballot measures will be vital in defending against forces that seek to erode our democratic values and the progress we have made.” Read more on the measures that were on the ballot this month.
