Voters in several states decided ballot measures Tuesday that could change how their elections are run and how their congressional districts are drawn, NPR reported. Results were still coming in, and this article explains what was on the ballot.
Alaska, Arizona, California and Nevada were among the states voting on election changes, including voter identification rules. Colorado, Maryland and Missouri were deciding redistricting proposals.
Voter ID has been a major theme this year. A Republican-backed national election overhaul that would add proof-of-citizenship and other ID requirements has stalled in Congress. So the fight moved to the states. NPR reported in August that voters in at least seven states were deciding voter ID measures this year, the most in a single year, according to Ballotpedia.
Oklahoma went first. Voters approved a measure in the state's August primary runoff that essentially wrote existing voter ID policy into the state constitution. The other states, including the swing states of Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina, had fall measures that would toughen ID requirements. Lawmakers in eight other states also made their voter ID laws stricter this year, according to the Voting Rights Lab.
Several states had proposals stating that only U.S. citizens may vote. That has been a trend in Republican-led states even though noncitizens are already barred from voting in state and federal elections.
Alaska voters again decided whether to keep their system of top-four, all-party primaries and ranked choice general elections. Massachusetts voters weighed all-party primaries and same-day voter registration.
On redistricting, Maryland voted on new congressional map rules designed to help Democrats. Missouri voters, after a long court fight, decided whether to approve a Republican-backed congressional map.
Raw 100.5 will report the outcomes as they are confirmed.
Sources: NPR, Ballotpedia, Voting Rights Lab