While most political pundits are focused on the pending matchup between former President Donald Trump and (presumably) Vice President Kamala Harris, a major facet of the 2024 contest that’s not getting enough attention is the election-related policy proposals appearing on state ballots across the country.
From voter ID requirements to expanding mail-in voting, these proposed statutory and constitutional changes could significantly alter the way states administer their elections. Here are the biggest ones you need to know about.
Ranked-Choice Voting
Often referred to as “rigged-choice voting” by its critics, ranked-choice voting (RCV) is an elections system in which voters rank candidates of all parties in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.
The system has largely been pushed by Democrats as a way of winning traditionally Republican seats and has regularly produced inaccurate election results and discarded ballots. While 10 states have prohibited RCV in recent years, that hasn’t stopped its proponents from attempting to trick voters into adopting the system via the ballot amendment process.
In Idaho, where Republicans passed a law barring the practice last year, RCV supporters reportedly submitted enough signatures earlier this month to have a top-four RCV initiative appear on the state’s November ballot. According to Ballotpedia, the initiative would change state law to require the use of ranked-choice voting in congressional, gubernatorial, and state and county elections.
Nevada and Oregon will also have pro-RCV initiatives appearing on their November ballots. The former state’s constitutional amendment proposal would implement a top-five RCV system for “congressional, gubernatorial, state executive official, and state legislative elections,” according to Ballotpedia, while the latter’s statutory initiative would require the system to be used for all federal and most state races, including those for president and governor. Oregon’s initiative would further permit localities to adopt RCV if their governing charters permit it.
Meanwhile, other states are looking to stop RCV from corrupting their elections.
Alaska, which narrowly adopted a top-four RCV system via ballot initiative in 2020, will have an amendment to repeal the system’s use on its fall ballot. The Last Frontier State’s use of RCV has produced a scenario in which a Democrat now represents Alaska’s at-large congressional seat. The system also helped establishment GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski win reelection against a more conservative challenger during the 2022 midterms.
Missouri voters will also have the opportunity to prohibit RCV in elections via constitutional amendment this November. Arizonans will similarly vote on a constitutional amendment proposal requiring partisan primaries. While Republican Rep. Austin Smith, the measure’s legislative sponsor, reportedly indicated the amendment doesn’t prohibit RCV, he argued it will help “gird” the state “against radical experimental election systems that disenfranchise voters such as ‘ranked choice voting.'”
Sponsors of an Arizona constitutional amendment that would eliminate partisan primaries and pave the way for RCV submitted signatures to appear on the November ballot earlier this month. Election officials have yet to determine if it will.
Top-Two Primaries
South Dakota’s Amendment H seeks to alter the state’s existing primary system. Rather than allow parties to hold individual primaries, the proposal would amend the state constitution by requiring a top-two primary system for state executive and legislative, congressional, and county races. Candidates from all parties would compete in a single primary, in which the top two vote-getters — regardless of party affiliation — would advance to the general election.
This type of primary system is currently used by states such as California.
Citizens-Only Voting
Amid the Biden-manufactured invasion at the southern border, various states are aiming to advance measures ensuring illegal aliens can’t vote in American elections.
Electors in Idaho, Kentucky, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma, and North Carolina will have the opportunity this November to vote on constitutional amendment proposals stipulating that only U.S. citizens may vote in their elections.
A similar initiative specifying only U.S. citizens can vote in elections and prohibiting localities from allowing noncitizen voting in municipal races will appear on Iowa’s 2024 ballot. The amendment proposal includes an additional provision permitting 17-year-olds who will be 18 at the time of the general election to vote in primaries.
Ballot Initiative Reform
With Democrats weaponizing the ballot initiative process to enshrine their radical agenda into law in traditionally red states, some jurisdictions are hoping voters will advance measures to make such efforts more difficult.
In Arizona, Proposition 134 would raise the threshold for citizen-led ballot initiatives to appear on the state’s ballot. According to Ballotpedia, “The current signature requirement to get an initiative petition on the ballot in Arizona is equal to 10% or 15% of qualified electors in the state for state statutes and constitutional amendments, respectively.”
Proposition 134 seeks to amend that provision of the state constitution to “provide that the initiative signature requirement would be 10% of votes cast for governor in each legislative district to qualify initiated state statutes for the ballot, and 15% of votes cast for governor in each legislative district to qualify initiated constitutional amendments for the ballot” (emphasis added). Passing the amendment would effectively force leftist groups hoping to use their dark money to garner support from Democrat-friendly, high-population centers to expand their efforts to rural areas less likely to back their extreme policies.
Proposition 136 would amend the Arizona Constitution to allow for legal challenges against ballot initiatives and constitutional amendment proposals after such measures have been submitted to the secretary of state for approval.
Meanwhile, a North Dakota amendment proposal seeks to establish a single-subject rule for all ballot measures, require that voters pass constitutional initiatives twice (in a primary and general election), and raise the signature requirement for any statute or constitutional amendment proposal from 4 percent of the state population to 5 percent.
Mail-In Voting
The “Connecticut No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment” seeks to amend the Constitution State’s founding document by allowing the Democrat-controlled legislature to pass laws allowing for no-excuse absentee voting. The Connecticut Constitution only permits voters to request an absentee ballot if they fulfill any of the document’s listed criteria, such as if they’re sick or won’t be in town on Election Day.
Opponents of the measure expressed concern that it would move the state away from its traditional voting procedures, in which electors vote in person on Election Day. Attempts to pass the leftist-backed amendment come at the same time Democrat officials in Connecticut’s most-populous city are facing charges for absentee ballot fraud.
Voter ID
The “Nevada Voter Identification Initiative” is a constitutional amendment proposal that would require Nevada residents to provide a photo ID when voting in person or their Social Security number or the last four digits of their driver’s license when voting by mail. If passed by a majority of voters this November, the proposal will need to pass again during the state’s next general election to ratify the Nevada Constitution.
