Marijuana, voting amid120 proposals
The growing push to legalize marijuana was being put to another test Tuesday in both left- and right-leaning states as voters also decided a variety of state ballot measures affecting their own voting rights in future elections.
A total of 120 proposed state laws and constitutional amendments were on the ballot in 32 states. They touched on an array of issues that have roiled politics in recent years — abortion, racial inequalities, taxes and education, to name a few.
But none directly dealt with the dominant theme of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic. That’s because the process to put measures on the ballot began, in most cases, before the virus surged to the forefront.
The Democratic-led New Jersey Legislature decided last December to place ameasure on the ballot asking voters whether they should legalize marijuana for adults age 21 and older. Citizens’ initiatives led to recreational marijuana measures on ballots in Arizona, Montana and South Dakota. Medical marijuana initiatives also are being decided in Mississippi and South Dakota.
More than a dozen proposals affecting future elections also were being decided.
Missouri voters were weighing whether to undo key parts of a nationally unique model they approved just two years ago that will employ a nonpartisan demographer to draw state House and Senate districts to achieve “partisan fairness” based on census results.
Virginia voters were deciding whether to diminish the power of the Legislature, currently controlled by Democrats, to draw voting districts. A proposal would instead create a bipartisan panel of lawmakers and citizens to come up with a redistricting plan that the Legislature could approve or reject, but not amend.
Measures in Massachusetts, Florida and Alaska would change future elections by opening up primaries or instituting ranked- choice voting.
Tax proposals were on the ballot in more than a dozen states, including higher property taxes on California businesses and higher income taxes on the wealthy in Illinois and Arizona. The additional tax revenue in Arizona would fund pay raises for teachers and other school personnel.
In Mississippi, voters were deciding whether to approve a new state flag with a magnolia design after legislators in June ended the use of a flag bearing a Confederate battle emblem. In Rhode Island, whose official name is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” voters were deciding whether to eliminate the final three words, which some say evoke a legacy of slavery.