Voters across the country decided ballot measures on Tuesday, with varying implications for individual liberty, legal rights, and economic freedom.
Texans in Proposition 3 “supported amending the state constitution to prohibit the state or any political subdivision from enacting a law, rule, order, or proclamation that limits religious services or organizations.” By an overwhelming 88–12 vote, Texas voters also backed “amending the state constitution to establish a right for residents of nursing or assisted living facilities to designate an essential caregiver, who cannot be prohibited from in‐person visitation.”
Maine voters by a 61–39 margin approved Question 3, “the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well‐being” and “the right to save and exchange seeds,” excluding instances in which an individual commits trespassing, theft, poaching, or “other abuses of private property rights, public lands or natural resources.” Some agricultural and animal‐welfare groups opposed the measure.
New York will join several other states in creating a vague constitutional “right to clean water, clean air, and a healthful environment.” No one knows what this means in practice—if you live in the countryside and your rusting septic system is in danger of tainting your well, is someone obliged to help you upgrade? It sounds nice, though.
Amid the usual wide range of bond issuances and tax proposals, taxpayer advocates in Colorado fell short with Proposition 120, meant to limit property taxes. The news on economic liberty was not good from the Twin Cities, with both Minneapolis and St. Paul approving destructive rent control measures. St. Paul adopted a 3 percent annual limit, while the measure in Minneapolis authorized the city council to act. Tucson voters approved a $15 minimum wage.
On the election law front, although same‐day voter registration and no‐excuse absentee balloting are coded as “liberal” in the polarized national discourse, New York voters rejected both. They also rejected a proposal that would centralize even more redistricting power in the legislature, which is in the midst of drawing a likely gerrymander as it is.
Several more municipalities decided to adopt ranked choice voting, including suburban Broomfield, Colorado (population 68,000) and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Perhaps more interesting, RCV figured in two of the year’s most high‐profile races, the New York City Democratic primary won by (relative) moderate Eric Adams, and the Virginia Republican convention nomination won by (relative) moderate Glenn Youngkin. Both Adams and Youngkin went on to win election on Tuesday.
Some notable ballot measures were decided earlier in 2021 as well. In May Pennsylvania voters agreed to two constitutional measures prescribing more of a legislative check on the power of the state’s governor to declare and extend emergencies. I’ve earlier lauded the impulse to rein in these dangerously broad executive powers. Also in May, San Antonio voters came near (49–51) to repealing collective bargaining for police officers. So close!
