Politics

Ballot initiatives are the tool we need in this moment to not only block authoritarian rule and ideology, but to build a world where all of us thrive and live with dignity — the world we deserve.

Time and time again, ballot measures have proven to be powerful tools for collaborative governance that transcend party lines and often receive higher vote percentages than candidates. This trend started in 2014 when four states, Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota, raised the minimum wage through ballot measures; another four states, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and Washington, followed suit in 2016. Florida made headlines across the country in 2018 when nearly 65% of Florida voters approved Amendment 4 to restore voting rights to Floridians with past criminal convictions.

In 2020, Missouri and Oklahoma expanded Medicaid to low-income adults, which has proven to significantly benefit individuals who gain healthcare coverage as well as their communities as a whole. Since the overturning of Roe, voters have successfully protected reproductive rights every time the issue has been placed on the ballot. In Ohio—a state that Trump won with more than 53% of the vote in 2020—hundreds of thousands of voters mobilized in the 2023 elections to pass Issue 1, enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution just months after they successfully defeated a ballot measure that would have blocked that victory. These are just a few instances that showcase how voters have used the power of direct democracy to support progressive policies, even in Republican trifecta states. Ballot measures are bypassing partisan politics and turning people-power into policies that transcend divides and improve lives.