A major component of the 2024 contest that is receiving a lack of attention are the election-related policy proposals that are appearing on state ballots across the nation, despite the majority of political pundits ‘ attention being on the pending matchup between former president Donald Trump and ( presumably ) vice president Kamala Harris.
These proposed statutory and constitutional changes, which include voting ID requirements and expanding mail-in election, may have a significant impact on how states run elections. The most important people to be aware of are listed below.
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 seats in the first round of voting, the last-place winner is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the politician’s second-choice member. This procedure continues until a single member receives the majority of the vote.
Democrats have mostly supported the system in order to win traditionally Democratic seats, and it has frequently produced inaccurate election results and abandoned ballots. Even though ten states have recently made RCV illegal, its opponents have n’t stopped trying to deceive voters into using the ballot amendment process to get them to vote.
RCV followers reportedly submitted enough names earlier this month to get the state’s top-four RCV program to appear on the November ballot in Idaho, where Republicans blocked the process next year. According to Ballotpedia, the program may change state legislation to involve the use of ranked-choice voting in legislative, general, and state and county elections.
On November ballots in Nevada and Oregon, pro-RCV activities will also appear. The former country’s constitutional amendment proposal would apply a top-five RCV program for” congressional, gubernatorial, state professional official, and state legislative votes”, according to Ballotpedia, while the latter’s statutory program would require the program to be used for all federal and most state races, including those for leader and chancellor. Oregon‘s program would allow localities to embrace RCV if their controlling charters enshrine it.
However, other states are looking to prevent RCV from corrupting their votes.
Alaska, which just adopted a top-four RCV program via vote effort in 2020, will have an article to overturn the state’s use on its fall ballot. The Last Frontier State’s use of RCV has led to the election of a Democratic candidate for Alaska’s largest congressional seat. In the midterms of 2022, the system helped establishment GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski win reelection against a more traditional challenger.
This November, Missouri voters will also have the option to pass a constitutional amendment that would forbid RCV in elections. A proposal for a constitutional amendment that calls for partisan primaries will also be cast by Arizonans. While Republican Rep. Austin Smith, the measure’s legislative sponsor, reportedly indicated the amendment does n’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 end partisan primaries and open the door for RCV have submitted signatures to appear on the November ballot earlier this month. Election officials have not yet decided whether 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 political parties would square off in a single primary, where the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would win the general election.
This kind of primary system is currently in use by states like California.
Citizens-Only Voting
In response to the Biden-manufactured invasion at the southern border, various states are pursuing initiatives to make sure illegal aliens ca n’t cast ballots 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.
On Iowa’s 2024 ballot, a similar initiative will specify that only U.S. citizens can cast ballots in municipal elections and that only localities can allow noncitizens to cast ballots. A further provision in the amendment proposal allows 17-year-olds who will turn 18 when the general election are eligible to cast ballots in primaries.
Ballot Initiative Reform
Some jurisdictions are hoping voters will support measures to make such efforts more difficult because Democrats are using the ballot initiative process to enshrine their radical agenda into law in traditionally red states.
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 attempts to amend the state constitution’s provision that “prescribes that the initiative signature requirement would be 10 % of votes cast for governor in each legislative district to qualify for initiated state statutes for the ballot” (emphasis added ). By passing the amendment, leftist organizations who want to use their dark money to win support from Democrat-friendly, high-population centers would effectively be forced to expand their efforts to rural areas who are less likely to support their extreme policies.
Proposition 136 would amend the Arizona Constitution to make it possible to file legal challenges against proposed constitutional amendments and ballot initiatives after the secretary of state received their approval.
In addition, a proposed amendment to North Dakota’s constitution requires that voters vote on all ballot measures in both a primary and a general election, raise the signature requirement, and increase the percentage of state residents who are in the state to 5 percent.
Mail-In Voting
The” Connecticut No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment” aims to amend the founding document of the Constitution State 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 meet any of the specified requirements, such as if they are ill or wo n’t be in town on Election Day.
Opponents of the measure expressed concern that tit would obstruct the state’s traditional voting process, which involves in-person elections on Election Day. The leftist-backed amendment is being attempted while Democrat officials in Connecticut’s most populous city are facing charges of absentee ballot fraud.
Voter ID
The proposed” Nevada Voter Identification Initiative” amendment would require Nevada residents to present a photo ID when casting ballot in person, along with their Social Security number, and the final four digits of their driver’s license when sending it by mail. The proposal will need to be passed once more during the state’s upcoming general election in November if it is approved by the majority of voters.
Shawn Fleetwood is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
