U.S. election: Abortion, marijuana, sports betting among measures on ballot

While the world will be focused on who will be elected the next U.S. president, millions of Americans are also deciding on hundreds of ballot issues that will impact their everyday lives.

With 10 states considering measures related to abortion or reproductive rights on Tuesday’s ballots, roughly a half-dozen states are weighing issues such as marijuana legalization, sports betting, housing and minimum wage.

Many of the ballot issues were initiated by citizen petitions, though others were placed before voters by lawmakers.

Here are some of the issues Americans in some states are deciding Tuesday.

Measures to protect access to abortion or enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution were on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Abortion rights amendments were projected to pass in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and Maryland.

Voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving current bans and restrictions in place.

The Missouri measure will make it the first state where a vote will undo a ban that’s already in place. Currently, abortion is barred at all stages of pregnancy with an exception only when a medical emergency puts the woman’s life at risk. Under the amendment, lawmakers would be able to restrict abortions past the point of a fetus’ viability — usually considered after 21 weeks, although there’s no exact defined time frame.

But the ban, and other restrictive laws, are not automatically repealed. Advocates now have to ask courts to overturn laws to square with the new amendment.

While legal in Canada, voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota are deciding whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults.

Tuesday’s election marks the third vote on the issue in the Dakotas. In Nebraska, voters are considering a pair of measures that would legalize medical marijuana and regulate the industry. Ultimately, the issue was rejected by voters in Florida.

0:49 Election result could take days

About half the states currently allow recreational marijuana, and about a dozen more allow medical marijuana. Possessing or selling marijuana remains a crime under federal law, punishable by prison time and fines.

Missouri voters are deciding whether to become the latest to legalize sports betting.

Thirty-eight states and Washington, D.C., already allow sports betting.

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It has expanded rapidly since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it in 2018.

In Colorado, where sports betting launched in 2020, voters approved a measure allowing the state to keep more than the original US$29 million limit on sports betting tax revenue.

Gradually raising minimum wages to US$15 an hour, while also requiring paid sick leave, are on the ballot in Missouri and Alaska, with Missouri approving its measure.

Meanwhile in California, a measure would incrementally raise the minimum wage for all employers to $18 an hour.

Voters in Arizona rejected a measure that would have let tipped workers be paid 25% less than the minimum wage, so long as tips pushed their total pay beyond the minimum wage threshold. In Massachusetts, voters defeated a measure that would have gradually raised the minimum wage for tipped employees until it matches the rate for other employees.

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Californians are deciding whether to repeal a 1995 law limiting local rent control ordinances.

If approved, it would open the way for local governments to expand limitations on the rates landlords could charge.

In Arizona, a proposal being presented to voters links property taxes with responses to homelessness.

If approved, it would let property owners seek property tax refunds if they incur expenses because a local government declined to enforce ordinances against illegal camping, loitering, panhandling, public alcohol and drug use, and other things.

West Virginia voters are deciding whether to amend the state constitution to prohibit medically assisted suicide.

The measure would run counter to 10 states and Washington, D.C., where physician-assisted suicide is allowed.

— with files from The Associated Press