Voters Decide 145 Ballot Measures as Democrats Win Big in Midterms

Voters in more than three dozen states decided 145 ballot questions on Tuesday, backing abortion rights in several states and rejecting President Donald Trump's redistricting efforts twice, according to the Associated Press. Democrats also won broadly in the midterm races for the House, Senate and governorships. In Florida, Amendment 3 passed with 62% of the vote, clearing the state's 60% threshold. It raises the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. Voters in multiple states approved measures to ensure that only citizens vote, and conservatives also won on protecting women's sports. Before the vote, six states were considering voter ID measures, some mirroring Trump's SAVE America Act. Ohio and North Carolina, which already require ID, were weighing writing it into their constitutions. Nevada considered a photo ID amendment, Arizona an ID rule for mail-in ballots, and California and Colorado similar measures. Hopes of passing the SAVE America Act ended with the new congressional majority.

The left-leaning New Republic ran a pre-election preview framing the ballots as a fight over democracy. It quoted Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and Hannah Ledford of the Fairness Project on attacks on voters' rights. It said experts believe voter ID laws suppress Black, student and Native voters, and it presented the measures as a threat to be rejected. The right-leaning Daily Signal acknowledged a blue wave and expanded abortion rights but argued the night hid conservative wins on citizen-only voting and women's sports. The Daily Wire led with Florida's property tax cut and listed taxes, abortion, marriage and voting as areas where voters rewrote rules. Both sides covered voter ID and citizenship measures, but the left treated them as a risk to access and the right as election-integrity victories. Independent outlets differed: AP gave the 145-question tally and the redistricting rejections, which the others omit, while The Dispatch called the night a Democratic rout.