With the Republicans across the country refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and working to ensure that future efforts to overturn elections they lose will instead succeed, the 2022 midterms will have major consequences for the fate of our democracy, and voters in many cities and states will decide directly on dozens of ballot measures that will determine who can vote and how elections will work. Daily Kos Elections has compiled a catalog of 47 noteworthy measures in 20 states and 16 localities that address a variety of democracy-related topics, some placed on the ballot by voters and some by state or local lawmakers.
Among the most notable, Connecticut and Michigan could adopt in-person early voting and protections for voting access; Arizona, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Ohio are weighing in on Republican-backed voting restrictions; San Francisco and other cities and counties will vote on moving local election dates to coincide with state and federal races, which could double or triple voter turnout; Portland, Oregon could become the first major American city in several decades to implement proportional representation for its city council; and Nevada, Seattle, and several other prominent jurisdictions could adopt a form of ranked-choice voting or a similar reform.
Ballot measures have become such a critical tool for safeguarding democracy especially because Republicans in many state legislatures and their allies in the judiciary have tried to entrench themselves in power through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and attacks on the election system’s integrity itself. In many states, Republicans have responded to successful ballot measures by seeking to make it practically impossible for voters to pass future initiatives. However, these efforts, too, are often subject to voter approval at the ballot box, as is the case this year with a trio GOP-backed measures in Arizona and one in Arkansas.
The table below details all of the election and voting-related measures on the ballot this month. For a comprehensive look at major ballot measures on all topics this November, see our companion story here.
State Measures
Local Measures