Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Ballot Measures: Florida OK's Restoring Felons' Voting Rights
By gvwebguy
Published 6 years ago on
November 7, 2018

Share

NEW YORK — Potentially altering the election landscape in a key swing state, Florida voters Tuesday approved a ballot measure that will enable more than 1 million ex-felons to regain their voting rights.

Floridians also approved a measure aimed at phasing out greyhound racing in the state, the last stronghold of the sport in the U.S.

Those were the first notable results as voters in 37 states considered an array of intriguing ballot measures — ranging from marijuana legalization to boosting the minimum wage to civil rights protections for transgender people.

In all, 155 statewide initiatives were on the ballot across the country. Most were drafted by state legislatures, but 64 resulted from citizen-initiated campaigns, including many of the most eye-catching proposals.

In North Dakota and Michigan, for example, voters had a chance to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, a step already taken by nine other states. The ballots in Missouri and Utah included proposals to legalize the medical use of pot.

A minimum wage increase was up for a vote in two states. An Arkansas measure would raise the wage from $8.50 an hour to $11 by 2021; Missouri’s would gradually raise the $7.85 minimum wage to $12 an hour.

Medicaid expansion was another multistate topic, on the ballot because Republican-led legislatures refused to take advantage of expanded coverage offered under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Measures in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah would expand Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands more residents; a Montana measure would to raise tobacco taxes to extend an existing expansion.

Proposals to change the redistricting process so it’s potentially less partisan were on the ballot in Missouri, Michigan, Utah and Colorado.

The goal is “giving citizens, not politicians, a greater voice in the drawing of their voting district lines,” said Sam Mar of the Action Now Initiative, which provided more than $7 million in support of the measures.

Ohio’s ballot included an ambitious proposal to make drug possession a misdemeanor in an effort to reduce the state prison population and divert any savings to drug treatment.

Florida’s measure on felon voting rights was among those placed on the ballot by citizen initiative. Under its terms, most felons will automatically have their voting rights restored when they complete their sentences or go on probation. The amendment exempts those convicted of sex offenses and murder.

Supporters said the state’s current system was too onerous. It required felons to wait at least five years after completing their sentence before they could file a request with the governor and Cabinet. About 1.5 million people are affected. Nearly all states allow felons to vote after completing their sentences.

While liberal-leaning groups succeeded in getting some of their favored policy proposals on the ballot in Republican-controlled states, the partisan pattern was reversed in Democratic-leaning Oregon and Massachusetts. In both states, conservatives used the initiative process in a bid to overturn existing policies.

The target in Massachusetts was a 2016 law extending nondiscrimination protections to transgender people in their use of public accommodations. It was the first-ever statewide vote on this question, occurring as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to weaken civil rights protections for transgender Americans.

Conservatives in Oregon targeted two policies — one allowing use of state money to pay for low-income women to have abortions, the other forbidding law enforcement agencies from using state resources or personnel to arrest people whose only crime is being in the U.S. illegally. Oregon adopted its “sanctuary state” law in 1987, becoming the first state to do so.

Oregon and its northern neighbor, Washington, each had measures that would prohibit local governments from imposing new taxes on soda or grocery items.

Washington voters also had a chance to toughen background checks for people buying semi-automatic rifles and to make their state the first to charge a direct fee on carbon pollution to fight climate change.

Climate change also was an issue in Arizona and Nevada, where voters considered measures requiring that 50 percent of electricity come from renewable sources by 2030. A measure in Colorado could sharply reduce oil and gas drilling, including the method known as fracking, by requiring new oil and gas wells to be further from occupied buildings than allowed under current law.

Curiously, slavery also was on the Colorado ballot. A proposed amendment would remove language in the state Constitution allowing slavery and involuntary servitude to be used to punish a crime.

The two most expensive ballot-measure campaigns — each generating more than $100 million in contributions — were in California. One of those would cap profits for dialysis clinics; the other would allow local governments to expand rent control.

DON'T MISS

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

DON'T MISS

Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

DON'T MISS

The Surprising Sexual Politics of Nicole Kidman’s Kinky ‘Babygirl’

DON'T MISS

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

DON'T MISS

FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

DON'T MISS

In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

DON'T MISS

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

DON'T MISS

It’s Eggnog Season. The Boozy Beverage Dates Back to Medieval England but Remains a Holiday Hit

DON'T MISS

9-Year-Old Among 5 Killed in Christmas Market Attack in Germany

DON'T MISS

Biden Signs Bill That Averts Government Shutdown, and Brings a Close to Days of Washington Upheaval

UP NEXT

This French Bulldog Is So Fetch: Meet Toaster Strudel

UP NEXT

Clovis Residents Can Draw the City’s Next Election Map

UP NEXT

Fresno County Driver Escapes Injury After Falling Asleep, Overturning Vehicle

UP NEXT

Corcoran Prison Guard, Inmate Accused of Orchestrating Assault on Other Inmate

UP NEXT

Visalia Police Arrest 8, Seize Guns and Drugs

UP NEXT

Next Phase of Friant-Kern Canal Repairs Begins With Intense Scrutiny of Study Contract

UP NEXT

Time to Celebrate! $1M Gift Tops Off Fundraising Goal for Marjaree Mason Center

UP NEXT

Kings County Man Arrested in Child Molestation Case Identified

UP NEXT

Visalia Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing At-Risk Man

UP NEXT

Fresno’s Enviro Issues Won’t Get in Way of New Housing: IRS Building Owner

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

15 hours ago

FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

15 hours ago

In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

16 hours ago

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

16 hours ago

It’s Eggnog Season. The Boozy Beverage Dates Back to Medieval England but Remains a Holiday Hit

16 hours ago

9-Year-Old Among 5 Killed in Christmas Market Attack in Germany

17 hours ago

Biden Signs Bill That Averts Government Shutdown, and Brings a Close to Days of Washington Upheaval

17 hours ago

This French Bulldog Is So Fetch: Meet Toaster Strudel

19 hours ago

The Fed Expects to Cut Rates More Slowly in 2025. What That Could Mean for Mortgages, Debt and More

21 hours ago

New California Voter ID Ban Puts Conservative Cities at Odds With State

22 hours ago

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

In a recent interview, renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs outlined his concerns about the possibility of war with Iran, framing it as the culm...

14 hours ago

14 hours ago

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

14 hours ago

Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

15 hours ago

The Surprising Sexual Politics of Nicole Kidman’s Kinky ‘Babygirl’

15 hours ago

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

15 hours ago

FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

16 hours ago

In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

16 hours ago

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

16 hours ago

It’s Eggnog Season. The Boozy Beverage Dates Back to Medieval England but Remains a Holiday Hit

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend