Six top ballot measure results
Here’s a quick rundown of results for six of our top 15 ballot measures to watch. Subscribe to our State Ballot Measures newsletter for a more detailed update in your inbox later this afternoon. Here’s how voters decided on those questions:
California Proposition 26: Voters rejected this proposition 70% to 30%. Proposition 26 would have legalized sports betting at American Indian casinos and licensed racetracks and enacted a 10% tax on sports betting profits. The Peace and Freedom Party of California and at least two dozen American Indian tribes supported the measure, while the Republican Party of California opposed it. Supporters and opponents contributed a combined $176 million to campaigns related to Proposition 26, making it this year’s second most-expensive ballot measure.
California Proposition 27: Voters rejected this proposition 84% to 16%. Like Proposition 26, Proposition 27 would have legalized online sports betting for gaming tribes and gaming companies that contract with gaming tribes. Individuals living within the state but outside of Indian land who were 21 years or older would have been permitted to place bets. Because voters rejected both Propositions 26 and 27, sports betting remains illegal in California. Heading into the election, 36 states and the District of Columbia allowed for betting on sports. Supporters and opponents contributed a combined $419 million to campaigns related to Proposition 27, making it this year’s most expensive ballot measure.
California Proposition 31: Voters approved this proposition 65% to 35%. The measure upheld a law the legislature passed in August 2020 outlawing the sale of flavored tobacco products, with exceptions for hookah tobacco, loose leaf tobacco, and premium cigars. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the Democratic Party of California, and the Peace and Freedom Party of California supported the measure. The Republican Party of California opposed it. As of 2020, only California and Massachusetts had banned flavored tobacco products.
Nebraska Initiative 433: Voters approved this initiative 59% to 41%. The measure will increase the state’s minimum wage from $9 to $15 by 2026 and will annually adjust the minimum wage based on the cost of living from 2027 on. The first minimum wage increase will be a $1.50 increase on January 1, 2023, with further increases of $1.50 each on Jan. 1, 2024, Jan. 1, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026. The last change to the minimum wage in Nebraska was in 2016, when voters approved Initiative 425 to increase the rate from $7.25 to $9.
Iowa Amendment 1: Voters approved this amendment 66% to 34%. The amendment adds a right to own and bear firearms to the state constitution and requires that a court apply strict scrutiny to any alleged violations of the right. As of 2021, 44 states included a right to firearms in their constitutions.
Alabama Recompiled Constitution Ratification Question: Voters approved this question 76% to 24%. This question was the final step in ratifying a rewritten version of the Alabama Constitution. Major changes introduced in the rewrite included arranging the constitution into proper articles, parts, and sections, the removal of racist language, and the deletion of duplicative and repealed provisions. Alabama’s current constitution, adopted in 1901, has been amended 977 times and is the longest written constitution in the world.
Read more at Ballotpedia here.