(NewsNation) — The race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has dominated national headlines, but voters can also expect to see more localized ballot initiatives in November.
Voters in several states will make consequential choices on issues like abortion, election systems, same-sex marriage, border laws and cannabis.
The outcome of some measures may impact the presidential race in those states.
Notably, abortion will appear on ballots in 10 states this year. It’s an issue proven to draw voters, evidenced in the so-called “blue wave” that turned out for the 2022 midterm elections after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier that year.
Here’s a look at some of the most common ballot measures voters will decide in November:
Abortion
Efforts to enshrine abortion access are on the ballot in a record 10 states this year — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York and South Dakota.
Meanwhile, voters in Nebraska will decide between a pair of dueling constitutional amendments, one of which seeks to ban abortion after the first trimester — with exceptions. The state already bans abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and requires patients to wait 24 hours after mandated counseling before they obtain an abortion.
The ballot initiatives would generally secure a person’s right to an abortion and block laws that restrict or ban access to abortion services. Some proposals, like Arizona’s Proposition 139, include specific language defining fetal viability, but each leaves that determination to a patient’s health care provider.
Although they all seek to protect abortion access, the proposals’ language and tactics vary. Places like Maryland and Missouri would more broadly guard a person’s right to make decisions about the prevention, continuation or ending of their pregnancy. In Missouri, that would include a right to make and carry out decisions about “prenatal care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”
New York Proposal 1 doesn’t specifically mention abortion but could protect access to it through broadened antidiscrimination laws. It would amend part of the state constitution that protects against “unequal treatment based on race, color, creed and religion.” If approved, the proposal would include language to also protect against “unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes, as well as reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” New York lawmakers have debated revising the proposal to directly address abortion rights.
Colorado Amendment 79 additionally seeks to repeal an existing ban on state and local funding for abortion services.
Border
Arizona’s Proposition 314 would create new state crimes surrounding several border- and immigration-related issues. If passed, the measure would make it a crime for noncitizens to enter the state anywhere other than through a port of entry and would allow state judges to order deportations. State and local police would also be allowed to arrest anyone who crosses the border without proper authorization.
The measure would make it a Class 2 felony for an adult to knowingly sell fentanyl that results in another person’s death. Notably, a person could argue the merit of those charges if they show the fentanyl’s precursor chemicals were manufactured in the U.S. or lawfully imported into the country.
Proposition 314 would also require people seeking certain public benefits to use an E-Verify program to confirm their immigration status. Submitting false information during that process — or giving false information to an employer to avoid eligibility questions — would also be a crime.
Cannabis
Ballot initiatives in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota will ask voters to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.
Florida’s Amendment 3 would legalize recreational pot use for people 21 years and older and would allow for possession of as much as three ounces.
South Dakota’s Initiated Measure 29 and North Dakota’s Initiated Measure 5 would both legalize recreational cannabis. If passed, North Dakota’s measure would allow people to possess as much as one ounce of pot, four grams of concentrate and 300mg of edibles. It would also allow residents to grow three cannabis plants or six plants per household.
Recreational marijuana use is already legal in 24 states.
Wages
Workers could see increased pay and added benefits in some states if voters pass wage-related ballot initiatives.
Measures in Alaska and Missouri would raise the hourly minimum wage to $15, while a California proposal would raise the minimum wage to $18 per hour. Alaska’s current minimum wage is $11.73 per hour as of Jan. 1. Missouri and Alaska pay their workers a minimum hourly rate of $12.30 and $11.73, respectively.
Massachusetts’ Question 5 also proposes steadily raising the minimum wage for tipped workers to match the state minimum wage by 2029.
In Nebraska, Initiative 436 would require employers to offer as many as seven or at least 20 days of paid sick leave, depending on the company’s size.
Meanwhile, tipped workers in Arizona could see their hourly rate reduced. Proposition 138 would allow employers to pay tipped workers 25% less than minimum wage if they earn the state minimum plus $2 per hour for all hours worked.
Rank choice voting
The option to adopt rank choice voting will be on the ballot in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska and Missouri.
The model allows voters to rank candidates by preference. A candidate who receives more than half of the No. 1 slots wins. Races that don’t result in a majority winner continue to a runoff election, where the contender with the fewest votes is eliminated until a majority winner is clear.
Maine, New York City, Cambridge, Minneapolis and San Francisco already use the model, and Alaska held its first ranked voting election in 2022.
Voters in other states will also weigh potential changes to the election process. Ballot initiatives in Montana and South Dakota would introduce top-four and top-two ranked choice-style primaries, respectively.
Arizona’s Proposition 140 would similarly replace the existing partisan primaries with a system that allows all candidates to appear on one ballot before the top choices advance to the general election. An opposing Arizona measure, Proposition 133, would ban open primaries and ranked voting methods.
Noncitizen voting
Voters in eight states — Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin — will weigh in on proposed noncitizen voting bans.
Voting in a federal election as a noncitizen has been a crime for more than a century and is punishable by fines and prison. Noncitizens, including permanent legal residents, are also banned from voting in state and most local elections, except for select municipalities.
The issue gained renewed traction as a Republican talking point earlier this year after former President Donald Trump suggested without evidence that Democrats were encouraging people to enter the United States without authorization.
Each U.S. state already has laws criminalizing noncitizen voting. The November ballot measures seek to bolster those bans by reflecting them in the states’ constitutions. They would also block local governments from allowing noncitizens to vote.
