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

Paul McCartney Becomes Britain’s First Billionaire Musician

DON'T MISS

California Cracked Down After a Crash Killed 13 Farmworkers. Why Are Workers Still Dying on the Road?

DON'T MISS

These Rare Chainsaws Are Worth Big Bucks to Collectors

DON'T MISS

Jewish Lobby Presses California Lawmakers to Combat Antisemitism

DON'T MISS

Opinion: How Urban Renewal Ruined Everything

DON'T MISS

California Wine Squeezed Dry: Insiders Say It’s Time to Pull up Acreage

DON'T MISS

Alabama Mercedes Employees Overwhelmingly Vote Against Joining Union, Slowing UAW Effort in South

DON'T MISS

Stock Market Today: Dow Finishes Above 40,000 to Cap Wall Street’s Latest Winning Week

DON'T MISS

Where Do State Lawmakers Stand on War in Gaza, Campus Protests?

DON'T MISS

High-Speed Rail Now Working to Extend Valley Line to 171 Miles

UP NEXT

Beautify Fresno Combines Dog Adoption, Litter Removal in Unique Saturday Event

UP NEXT

Some UC Regents Sit Down with Pro-Palestinian Protesters at UC Merced

UP NEXT

Rescued from the Streets: Jules the Pup Finds New Lease on Life

UP NEXT

What Is Mayor’s Plan to Handle $47 Million Fresno Budget Deficit?

UP NEXT

Former Congressmember Cox Close to Plea Deal in Money Laundering Case

UP NEXT

Merced Councilmember Bertha Perez Faces Scrutiny for Alleged Threats, Inappropriate Conduct

UP NEXT

Emotions Flare During UC Regents Meeting, Pro-Palestine Protesters Escorted Out

UP NEXT

Deadly Deer Disease Found in Madera County: What Does It Mean for Humans?

UP NEXT

Boomer’s Kitty Curiosity Matches His Fondness for Play

UP NEXT

Innovative Foster Youth Housing on Fast Track to Opening in Fresno

Jewish Lobby Presses California Lawmakers to Combat Antisemitism

1 day ago

Opinion: How Urban Renewal Ruined Everything

1 day ago

California Wine Squeezed Dry: Insiders Say It’s Time to Pull up Acreage

1 day ago

Alabama Mercedes Employees Overwhelmingly Vote Against Joining Union, Slowing UAW Effort in South

1 day ago

Stock Market Today: Dow Finishes Above 40,000 to Cap Wall Street’s Latest Winning Week

1 day ago

Where Do State Lawmakers Stand on War in Gaza, Campus Protests?

1 day ago

High-Speed Rail Now Working to Extend Valley Line to 171 Miles

1 day ago

Beautify Fresno Combines Dog Adoption, Litter Removal in Unique Saturday Event

1 day ago

Bulldogs’ Gilmore Named MW Softball Pitcher of the Year

2 days ago

The Latest | Dozens of Israeli Protesters Attack a Truck in an Apparent Effort to Block Gaza Aid

2 days ago

Paul McCartney Becomes Britain’s First Billionaire Musician

LONDON — Paul McCartney is a billionaire Beatle. According to figures released Friday, the former member of the Fab Four is the first Britis...

18 hours ago

18 hours ago

Paul McCartney Becomes Britain’s First Billionaire Musician

19 hours ago

California Cracked Down After a Crash Killed 13 Farmworkers. Why Are Workers Still Dying on the Road?

20 hours ago

These Rare Chainsaws Are Worth Big Bucks to Collectors

1 day ago

Jewish Lobby Presses California Lawmakers to Combat Antisemitism

1 day ago

Opinion: How Urban Renewal Ruined Everything

1 day ago

California Wine Squeezed Dry: Insiders Say It’s Time to Pull up Acreage

1 day ago

Alabama Mercedes Employees Overwhelmingly Vote Against Joining Union, Slowing UAW Effort in South

1 day ago

Stock Market Today: Dow Finishes Above 40,000 to Cap Wall Street’s Latest Winning Week

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend