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Ballot measures, a vital form of direct democracy are the real voice of the community
In November, voters across the U.S. used ballot measures to address critical issues like abortion rights, voting access, paid sick leave, and minimum wage increases.
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Person putting a ballot in the box / Pexels
In November, in many states across the country, ballot measures gave voters an opportunity to decide on important human rights issues touching the criminal and immigration legal systems. In almost 150 ballot measures across the United States voters made real change on issues spanning from abortion and voting rights to policing and mass incarceration. Meaningful change in U.S. governance can happen no matter who occupies the Oval Office.
Ballot measures saw voters in Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska approve paid sick leave for their workers. Missouri voters increased the minimum wage to US$15 an hour. Eight states came down in favor of abortion rights. Meanwhile, efforts to restrict the ballot process failed in both Arizona and North Dakota to pass.
More than 63 percent of all ballot measures passed impact health, said Richard Von Glahn, political director, Missouri Jobs for Justice at the Ethnic Media Services and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation briefing.
Some lawmakers and other elected officials are making a concerted effort to reduce citizens’ power to enact policy through ballot initiatives., warned the panelists.
Missouri ensured health of its workers and thereby of the economy through ballot measures
The ballot measure process gives marginalized communities a direct way to shape policies that affect their health and well-being. Missouri Jobs with Justice in the last 12 years has worked and succeeded in raising the minimum wage not once but twice through the ballot. On November 5th Proposition A ensured minimum wage will increase to US$13.75 in January and then US$15 in 2026. Paid sick leave to care for themselves or their families or loved ones goes into effect next May.
“In 2020 the ballot process expanded Medicaid. Proposition A ensures that people have the time to take themselves to the doctor or family members to the doctor. If you have health insurance, but you can’t afford to take a day away from work to access it then that insurance isn’t worth anything to you because you can’t actually use it,” said Von Glahn.
One in three Missourians did not have access to paid time off before the passage of this initiative. It took nearly 900 volunteers and over 210,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot. In the final 10 days of the election, over 1500 volunteers knocked on 150,000 doors.
“It is very important to set up guard rails around our economy that can reflect our community values and make sure that the workers are healthy at work,” he said.
Ballot measures ensure the voice of all members of the community, including immigrants and non-US-born citizens in the case of California, can result in positive action. It is imperative that we are watchful of any attempts to roll back this right.
Threats to the ballot process are increasing
The BISC Foundation found that in 2024 alone there were 103 bills attacking the ballot measure process. “We expect that there will be even more in 2025," said Avenel Joseph, Interim Executive Vice President, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is no coincidence that efforts to restrict ballot measure access are increasing at the same time that advances for equity are passing at the ballot box. Seventy-five bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2023 to change the rules and make the ballot measure process harder for voters to use to make progress on the issues they care about. So far in 2024, there have been 103 bills attacking the ballot measure process, and we expect more bills to come in the next year.
Lawmakers make it harder for citizen-initiated measures to get on the ballot. Raising signature requirements, for example, makes it costlier and harder for communities to propose measures that are vital to them.
Critics of Proposition A in Missouri, say they’re exploring litigation and legislative changes. Because the measure changes state law but not the constitution, the legislature could modify or overturn it without returning for a new vote of the people.
Florida's abortion access measure failed even though more than the majority, 57 percent of the electorate, had a vote in favor of the measure. This stratagem will be copied by other states warned Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, Executive Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation..
In the next several months the success of the ballot measures has to be ensured
Even though ballot measures have illustrated how directly they have been successful for several years in winning progressive policy at the ballot, we are facing significant pushback, not only through the state legislature but also actors who are filing legal cases in the courts to try to undermine them, said Melody.
She anticipates that a number of issues related to health, especially around abortion access are going to face major challenges around implementation.
“Missouri is living under total abortion ban and implementation of the new ballot measure is going to be very critical. Abortion clinics can’t open back up overnight. We’re gonna have to make sure that there are resources for them in Missouri and other states like Arizona to reopen those clinics and make sure the doctors have the ability to perform the services that they are medically obligated to do.”
Ballot initiatives are not synonymous with one political party
Ballot measures and direct democracy cut across political lines. “The ballot measure process is one of the parts of our democracy that is working,” said Joseph. “Voters were able to advance policies that align with their values regardless of party identity in blue states and red states and those very rare purple states.”
In Missouri one and four voters voted both for Donald Trump and Proposition A, said Joseph.
“Ballot initiatives are not synonymous with one political party. What the ballot initiatives are really synonymous with are the needs and experiences of workers in our community. Workers telling their story of their real lived experiences in the economy.”
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