Tracking the Results of the 2014 Ballot Measures That Matter Most for States and Localities

A reading list of the most important measures, how voters cast their ballots and why they matter.

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Click on a topic below to read stories about what's on the ballot in that area. For the latest on state and local elections, visit governing.com/elections. We'll also update this page with the results, as they come in tonight and tomorrow.


 

COURTS and CORRECTIONS

Most states have at least considered banning foreign laws in their courts in recent years. Opponents say the controversial bans target Islam and are based on stereotypes.

The state that once pioneered get-tough approaches on crime with its “three strikes” law is now headed in the opposite direction.

Floridians defeated a proposed constitutional change that would have let governors name a new judge once the retirement date of the outgoing judge is known.

EDUCATION

The bond referendum provides money for more space, better security and new high-tech gadgets.

Oregon would have been the first state to set up an ongoing investment trust fund for higher education.

ELECTIONS and POLITICS


If Arizona successfully opts out of enforcing a federal law like Obamacare, some see other states following suit.

Three states rejected ballot measures that either would have made voting easier or harder.

The Ocean State is one of more than a dozen that periodically asks voters whether they want to hold another constitutional convention.

Floridians defeated a proposed constitutional change that would have let governors name a new judge once the retirement date of the outgoing judge is known.

Arkansas voters approved a ballot measure that combined popular ethics reforms with an extension of term limits for state lawmakers.

FINANCE

The state, often a policy trendsetter, approved a ballot measure to institutionalize savings habits and harness the state’s notoriously wild revenue swings.

The cap makes the state more competitive with its tax-friendlier neighbors, but states that have enacted similar restrictions on taxes encountered financial problems later.

One of the biggest criticisms of the gas tax in most places is that it doesn’t keep up with inflation. Massachusetts voters decided they like it that way.

Constitutional protections for transportation money passed with overwhelming margins in Maryland and Wisconsin, but a bid to create an infrastructure bank in Louisiana failed again.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment to increase transportation spending.

Environmental groups spent nearly twice as much money as their opponents to set aside some oil revenue for protecting the land, but the ballot measure lost by a landslide.

The bond referendum provides money for more space, better security and new high-tech gadgets.

The state would have been the fifth to put part of their lottery proceeds toward veterans programs.

Voters rejected a sales tax increase that would have provided billions of dollars for road and bridge repairs.

In a state with an economy and government reliant on diminishing oil revenue, voters decided not to repeal a law that's designed to spur oil development but help the at-times corrupt oil industry.

FOOD and AGRICULTURE

Voters have never passed GMO labeling in any state. But the vote in Oregon is so close it could be contested, and activists are taking their fight to the legislatures.

After a fight led by liquor stores, the state will keep decisions about whether or not to sell alcohol at the county level.

Voters narrowly approved a ballot measure that makes farming a constitutional right -- an idea that opponents say will make future agriculture regulations like GMO bans harder to enact and enforce.

GUNS

Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment that affirms the right to bear arms is a "fundamental right" and any regulation of that right is subject to the highest level of judicial review.

With backing by the NRA, making hunting a constitutionally protected right has become increasingly popular in the past decade. 

More than six in 10 voters approved a constitutional amendment pertaining to the right to bear arms and own ammunition and gun-related accessories.

HEALTH

A ballot measure that would have made Florida the first Southern state to legalize medical marijuana failed by a 2 percent margin.

Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a measure that allows terminally ill patients to obtain experimental drugs that haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made California the first state to drug test doctors and raised the cap on some medical malpractice damages for the first time since the 1970s.

Californians voted against giving the state's insurance commissioner the power that most have to reject excessive health premium increases.

Voters have never passed GMO labeling in any state. But the vote in Oregon is so close it could be contested, and activists are taking their fight to the legislatures.

The state is the nation's only that effectively bans chain stores from owning pharmacies, and voters want it to stay that way.

Ballot measures that would have defined a fetus as a person lost in North Dakota and Colorado. But voters paved the way for new abortion restrictions in Tennessee Tuesday.

It's now the third state to require businesses to pay workers when they have to take sick days.

IMMIGRATION

Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure that would have issued government ID cards to those without citizenship or legal presence.

INFRASTRUCTURE and ENVIRONMENT

Environmental groups spent nearly twice as much money as their opponents to set aside some oil revenue for protecting the land, but the ballot measure lost by a landslide.

One of the biggest criticisms of the gas tax in most places is that it doesn’t keep up with inflation. Massachusetts voters decided they like it that way.

Constitutional protections for transportation money passed with overwhelming margins in Maryland and Wisconsin, but a bid to create an infrastructure bank in Louisiana failed again.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment to increase transportation spending.

Voters have never passed GMO labeling in any state. But the vote in Oregon is so close it could be contested, and activists are taking their fight to the legislatures.

Voters narrowly approved a ballot measure that makes farming a constitutional right -- an idea that opponents say will make future agriculture regulations like GMO bans harder to enact and enforce.

Voters rejected a sales tax increase that would have provided billions of dollars for road and bridge repairs.

LABOR

The ballot measures follow a wave of mostly Democratic states lifting wages for low-income workers after federal inaction.

It's now the third state to require businesses to pay workers when they have to take sick days.

Voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made California the first state to drug test doctors and raised the cap on some medical malpractice damages for the first time since the 1970s.

 

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Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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