Many red-state voters embrace several liberal ballot measures

Even in deep-red states, voters embraced an array of liberal-backed ballot measures in Tuesday’s election—expanding Medicaid, targeting gerrymandering, boosting minimum wages, legalizing marijuana use.

The results heartened left-of-center activists, who see a path going forward for circumventing Republicancontrolled legislatures. With the new Congress deeply split along partisan lines, the outcome ensured that the states will serve as pivotal battlegrounds for social issues heading toward the next election in 2020.

One of the strongest messages emerging from the results is that voters are eager to make the political process, including voting itself, fairer and more accessible.

Michigan, Missouri and Colorado approved changes in redistricting policy aimed at reducing partisan gerrymandering through the use of independent map-drawers. A similar measure in Utah was leading in partial returns.

Voters in Michigan, Maryland and Nevada supported measures calling for automatic or same-day voter registration. Several states approved new oversight of politicians’ ethics. And in Florida, there was decisive approval of a measure that will enable an estimated 1.4 million people with prior felony convictions to regain their voting rights.

“We see strong support for these initiatives from independents, Democrats and Republicans,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. “The question is whether incumbent officials will wake up to understand that people really do want democracy and that power belongs to the people.”

In two Republicanleaning states, Idaho and Nebraska, voters approved measures to expand Medicaid health coverage to tens of thousands of low-income residents, while a similar measure was leading in Utah. In those states, Republicanled legislatures had refused to take advantage of expanded coverage offered under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Other notable results:

■ Michigan voters approved legalization of marijuana for recreational use, making it the first Midwestern state to do so. North Dakota rejected a similar measure, while Missouri voters backed legalization of medical marijuana.

■ A minimum wage increase was approved in two states. An Arkansas measure will raise the wage from $8.50 an hour to $11 by 2021; Missouri’s hourly minimum will gradually rise from $7.85 to $12.

■ Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved making a unanimous jury a requirement for convictions, scrapping a law dating from the era of racial segregation that allowed for split juries.

■ Arizona voters rejected a massive expansion of the state’s private school voucher program criticized as a move to drain money from public schools and give it to rich parents to fund their kids’ private school tuition.