- Americans across the nation are voting on several consequential ballot initiatives in 2020 on everything from labor laws to drug legalization.
- Direct ballot initiatives, amendments, and propositions enable voters to directly change state law or their state's constitution with their vote, or to compel the legislature to take a certain action.
- Insider and Decision Desk HQ will have live results and calls for nearly 20 of the most important ballot initiatives in 2020.
In addition to the hotly-contested presidential and congressional elections, Americans across the nation are voting on several consequential ballot initiatives on everything from drug legalization and decriminalization to abortion policy and election administration.
Direct ballot initiatives, amendments, and propositions enable voters to directly change state law or their state's constitution with their vote.
The most high-profile ballot proposition of 2020 is California's Prop 22, in which voters will determine whether to uphold or reverse a controversial law, Assembly Bill 5, which prohibited ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft from classifying employees as independent contractors.
Insider and our partners at Decision Desk HQ will have live, updated results and calls for nearly 20 of the most important ballot initiatives and questions in 2020.
Find the live results for the most key 2020 ballot initiatives and referendums here:
- Puerto Rico Statehood referendum: Residents of the US territory of Puerto Rico will be voting on a non-binding referendum on whether the territory should seek to become a US state. While Puerto Ricans are currently US citizens, pay taxes, and can serve in the military, they cannot vote in federal elections and do not have voting representation in Congress.
- Alaska Ballot Measure 2: Alaskans are voting on an initiative that would replace the state's current partisan primary system with non-partisan, top-four primaries and enact ranked-choice voting.
- Arizona Proposition 207: Arizona is voting on whether to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and older and to tax marijuana sales.
- California Proposition 17: This measure would extend the right to vote to Californians serving parole. California is currently one of just three states that allow citizens on probation but not parole to vote.
- California Proposition 18: A measure to allow 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the time of the general or regular election to vote in primaries and special elections.
- California Proposition 20: This proposition would roll back some criminal justice and sentencing reforms enacted over the past decade, including restoring restrictions on parole and allowing prosecutors to prosecute some misdemeanor theft cases as felonies.
- California Proposition 22: A hotly-debated and contested initiative that, if passed, would allow rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft to classify all employees as independent contractors and not full-time employees. The measure would overturn the highly controversial Assembly Bill 5.
- California Proposition 25: In this proposition, Californians will vote on whether the state will be the first in the nation to eliminate the use of cash bail in courts statewide.
- Colorado Proposition 113: Colorado is voting on whether the state and its nine electoral college votes should enter the National Popular Vote Compact, in which member states pledge all their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
- Colorado Proposition 115: A measure that would prohibit abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy, except in circumstances where necessary to save the pregnant person's life.
- District of Columbia Initiative 81: A
ballot initiative that would decriminalize the use of psychedelic and hallucinogenic mushrooms. - Florida Amendment 3: This measure would enact a top-two, or jungle, primary system for gubernatorial, cabinet, and state legislative elections and allow non-affiliated voters to vote in such primaries. It requires a 60% threshold to pass.
- Louisiana Amendment 1: This amendment, if passed, would explicitly guarantee no right to an abortion or to public funding for abortions under Louisiana's constitution.
- Massachusetts Question 2: A measure that would enact ranked-choice voting for federal and state-level elections starting in 2022.
- Montana I-190 and C1-118: Montana is voting on ballot initiatives to legalize the use of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over, tax marijuana products, and allow the legislature to set the legal age for marijuana purchase.
- New Jersey Public Question 1: A measure to regulate the possession, use, and purchasing of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and older.
- Oregon Measure 109: This initiative would legalize the use of psilocybin drugs like mushrooms in certain regulated medical settings to patients 21 and older. Some studies indicate that the use of such drugs, when overseen by a physician, can be effective in treating mental health conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety.
- Oregon Measure 110: An initiative to decriminalize the possession of certain controlled substances, including cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. It would also direct some revenue from recreational marijuana sales to funding drug addiction treatment programs.
- South Dakota Constitutional Amendment A: An initiative that would legalize the use of recreational marijuana and mandate the state legislature to pass bills legalizing medical marijuana and the sale of hemp.