Progressive Ballot Measures Won Big In 2020

While the main focus this week was the outcome of the presidency & control of Congress, there were also 120 ballot measures being considered by voters in 35 states. These included major progressive priorities like criminal justice reform, electoral reform, economic policy, and human rights — the large majority of which passed, even in states that voted overwhelmingly for Republicans.

Here are quick summaries of the most important progressive wins from the 2020 election (click through the links for more in-depth coverage from other sources):

Criminal Justice Policy

Five states passed major marijuana reforms:

With those victories, there are now 35 medical marijuana states and 15 states that have legalized it for adults. These wins should also encourage action in states without ballot initiatives, like Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Oregon voted to legalize psilocybin therapy. They also approved another measure to decriminalize the possession of all drugs and fund treatment services, becoming the first state to follow Portugal’s good example on how to treat drug abuse as a health issue instead of a criminal justice one. Washington, DC also passed a decriminalization initiative focused on psychedelic plants. These victories seem to be the start of the next big wave of drug policy reform.

California passed a good combination of criminal justice reform and electoral reform: an initiative to restore felons’ voting rights once they get out of prison (instead of having to complete parole). While the ideal policy is never taking away anyone’s right to vote, this is a step in the right direction that is estimated to help about 50,000 people.

Electoral Policy

Mississippi eliminated its own version of the Electoral College, which required majorities in every State House district in elections for Governor. Similar to the national Electoral College, this gave disproportionate power to rural voters at the expense of urban voters, which also comes with a big racial impact.

Colorado confirmed its participation in the National Popular Vote Compact after some opponents tried to undo the legislature’s decision to join. The NPV Compact is a great idea that will essentially fix the Electoral College without a constitutional amendment, and this is a good step to getting enough states to make it effective for the 2024 election. 

Alaska became the second state to adopt Ranked Choice Voting for statewide offices, and the first to do it for the state legislature. Unlike Maine (the first state to adopt RCV, though only for Governor and federal races), Alaska’s reform was combined with creating a “jungle primary” (similar to California) where people vote on candidates of all parties and the top four advance to the general election. I’ve got mixed feelings on jungle primaries, but RCV is such a good idea that this is definitely a net improvement.

Virginia voters passed an amendment that reformed the redistricting process, giving control to a bipartisan commission rather than just whichever party that controls the legislature. While some Democratic politicians had opposed it since Democrats now control the state government, the large majority of the party’s voters supported the measure — more evidence that the Democratic base earnestly cares about process and principles, rather than winning at all costs.

Puerto Rico, while not currently a state, voted to become one. The vote is not binding since it’s ultimately up to Congress whether to admit any new states, but this is a good step towards ending the island’s unsustainable and unfair status as a territory. 

Economic Policy

Colorado voted to establish paid family leave, an incredibly important policy to support parents in the modern age. Since there is no federal paid family leave in the US, this will have a big impact on the state’s nearly six million residents.

Florida voted to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2026, which is a big jump from its current rate of  $8.56/hour. It’s important to note that this passed with over 60% of the vote while Trump won the state’s electoral votes, meaning that like marijuana reform, raising the minimum wage appears to be changing from a highly partisan issue to a broadly supported one.

Arizona passed an income tax increase for high-income people (individuals making over $250,000 per year). Income under that amount will continue to be taxed at the state’s current 4.5% rate, while income above it will be taxed at 7%. The funds are earmarked to go towards teacher salaries and other education priorities.

Human Rights

Colorado voters rejected a measure to ban abortions after 22 weeks, keeping the state’s current policy which does not have any time-based limitations — great news amid concerns that Republicans’ 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court could endanger federal abortion protections.

Nevada voters removed a ban on same sex marriage from their constitution. It was no longer in effect after the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same sex marriage nationwide, but it’s still a nice symbolic victory.

Local Ballot Measures

There were also hundreds, if not thousands, of local ballot measures being considered. While state measures usually have a bigger impact, there are still some notable local victories worth highlighting.

Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city, passed what some called a “defund the police” initiative. Yet rather than specifically removing funding from police, instead it works by requiring 10% of the city’s budget to be spent on social services and alternatives to incarceration. Since police get an inordinate amount of the budget, it’s likely that their budget will need to be reduced to meet these funding requirements (and that money will almost certainly go to better use).

In addition to Los Angeles, Ballotpedia was also tracking 19 other local police reform measures with varying details. Every single one of them passed, which is huge news for the police reform movement.

My own city of Portland, Maine approved an initiative to repeal our City Council’s cap on the number of marijuana retail licenses. We also approved four of the five measures run by the local branch of the Democratic Socialists:

  • Raising the minimum wage from $12 to $15 (plus 50% hazard pay during states of emergency)

  • Banning government use of facial recognition technology

  • Reforming building codes and affordable housing (advertised as a local Green New Deal)

  • Rent control

Boulder, Colorado adopted the use of Ranked Choice Voting in future mayoral elections.

Eight Colorado towns and six Illinois towns voted to allow marijuana sales to adults.

Four Ohio cities voted to decriminalize marijuana possession, which the state still criminalizes.

Looking Ahead...

Most importantly, these initiatives will have a noticeable impact on people’s lives: preventing unjust arrests and incarceration, making sure elections reflect the will of the voters, creating an economy that works for everyone, and protecting basic human rights.

But these victories should also be a lesson to activists all over the country: when you put progressive policies directly in front of voters, without any party labels or other ideological baggage, they win.

This post was edited on 11/22/2020 to add the result of Alaska’s RCV ballot measure, and to update the section on local police reform initiatives with late results.

politics, money, drugsSam Tracy2020 election, ballot measures, mississippi, south dakota, new jersey, arizona, montana, oregon, Connecticut, New York, pennsylvania, california, Colorado, virginia, puerto rico, florida, nevada, los angeles, portland maine, Maine, illinois, progressivism, criminal justice, economic policy, human rights, elections, electoral reform, ranked choice voting, taxes, minimum wage, marijuana, medical marijuana, national popular vote, psilocybin, drug policy, decriminalization, abortion, paid family leave, same sex marriage, police reform, police, defund the police