As millions of Americans voted in the US presidential election yesterday, dozens of states also voted on additional issues — including minimum wages, recreational cannabis and abortion access.
Voters in the U.S. states of Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York approved measures to expand or enshrine abortion rights.
Similar measures in Florida and South Dakota failed.
Here’s what happened.
Ballot measures
Residents in all 50 U.S. states voted on who they wanted to represent them in Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives), and the President.
Election ballots in some states also included questions about changing a specific law. These are called “ballot measures” and can cover a range of issues.
Voters don’t have to fill out the whole ballot. For example, a person could vote for the President but skip answering the other ballot measures.
Abortion
Several states voted on abortion protections this week.
It follows the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, a case that had enshrined national protections for abortion access.
The decision gave individual states the power to determine their own abortion laws.
Since June 2022, 13 U.S. states have outlawed abortion. In some of these states, abortions are permitted in circumstances including rape, incest and health complications.
Results
Ballot measures in 10 states asked voters about abortion access.
A vote to establish a “right for reproductive freedom” succeeded in Missouri.
Similar measures to expand or enshrine abortion rights also succeeded in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada and New York.
Nebraska voted to outlaw abortions after the first trimester, with some exceptions.
In Florida, 57.2% of voters supported a proposal to reverse abortion bans after six weeks.
However, 60% of voters in the state must approve a measure in order for it to pass.
This meant Florida’s abortion proposal failed.
A similar measure also failed in South Dakota.
Other issues
Also in yesterday’s election, three states asked voters whether they wanted to legalise recreational cannabis. The measure failed in all three jurisdictions.
There were also state-specific measures relating to minimum wages. In California, voters were asked if they wanted to increase the minimum wage to $US18 ($AU27) within two years. This failed.
A wage proposal also failed in the state of Massachusetts, where voters were asked if they supported increasing the minimum wage for tipped employees – largely hospitality workers – by 2029.
