From a Billionaires Tax to Abortion Rights, Voters Will Decide Policy

Voters on Tuesday will elect federal and state politicians to represent them, but they will also exercise the power of direct democracy, setting policy through initiatives that will shape abortion and transgender rights, taxation, even the conduct of voting and direct democracy itself.

Voters will weigh in on more than 140 statewide ballot measures, nearly 40 of them related to elections. That’s a record, said Helen Brewer, who tracks statewide ballot measures for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Jump to browse all 2026 ballot measures

Ballot measures provide voters an opportunity to weigh in directly, often on policies that their representatives don’t really want changed. Some of the initiatives were proposed by lawmakers, while others were written by voters.

A handful of the proposals seek to regulate ballot measures, by raising the threshold of votes needed for their passage or expanding safeguards to keep lawmakers from altering voter-approved policy.

The outcomes will serve as a reality check, offering “at least some insight into what the voters who turn out in that election think,” Ms. Brewer said.

Here are some of the ballot measures worth watching:

Voting and Campaign Finance

Voters in a few states will weigh in on ranked choice voting, “dark money,” or the expansion of voting rights. And voters in nearly a dozen states will decide on citizenship or voter ID requirements.

Alaska Ballot Measure 2

This measure, which has drawn support from President Trump, would repeal open primaries, where voters can choose which party’s primary they want to participate in, and ranked choice voting, where voters rank their top four choices. It would also loosen campaign finance restrictions. Voters approved Alaska’s current system in 2020 and narrowly voted to keep it in 2024.

Montana Initiative 194

Corporations, nonprofits and labor unions — defined under this measure as “artificial persons” — would be banned from doing business in the state if they contribute to political campaigns.

Michigan Proposal 2

Electric and gas utilities and many government contractors would be barred from making campaign donations under this measure.

Virginia Question 3

The right to vote would be restored to people convicted of felonies upon their release. The measure would also narrow restrictions on people deemed “mentally incompetent” by a court, requiring a specific finding that they don’t understand voting.

Voter I.D. and Citizenship Requirements

Requirements for voters to present identification or bans on noncitizens voting will also be weighed in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and West Virginia.

Wealth

During an election season that has been animated by class tensions, many voters will decide on initiatives to tax the rich.

California Proposition 40

The first-of-its-kind measure would impose a one-time 5-percent tax on wealth for Californians with a net worth over $1 billion, with nearly all of the revenue going toward health care. Wealth taxes are imposed on the value of personal assets, even if they are not sold, rather than on income or the sale of assets like stocks, bonds and property.

Washington Initiative 645

Voters are deciding whether to repeal a 9.9-percent tax on income over $1 million a year, recently approved by the state legislature. The “millionaires tax” is expected to pull in more than $3 billion annually. Washington currently doesn’t tax personal income.

Cook County Millionaire Tax Amendment

Voters in the county that contains Chicago will weigh in on whether Illinois should adopt an additional 3 percent income tax on millionaires. The results aren’t binding. A similar proposed constitutional amendment didn’t make it onto the ballot.

Redistricting

A mid-decade redistricting blitz that began at the urging of Mr. Trump has spun into multiple ballot measures asking voters to rethink how their state’s congressional maps are drawn.

Maryland Question 3

The state constitutional amendment would remove limits on how state lawmakers draw voter maps for congressional races. It would clear the way for the Democrat-led legislature to take aim at the state’s last Republican district on the Eastern Shore before the 2028 election.

Missouri Proposition A

Voters will decide whether to adopt a congressional map that was redrawn to boost Republicans by dismantling a Democratic district around Kansas City. The Supreme Court blocked use of the map in 2026, saying the map needed voter approval.

Colorado Amendment 86

The state constitutional amendment would limit congressional redistricting by requiring public meetings as well as the approval of an independent commission and the state’s top court before a map can be modified. An effort by Democrats to allow for redistricting ahead of 2028 failed to make the ballot.

Social Policy

For the first time, voters will decide on ballot measures about the participation of transgender students in school sports. Voters will also weigh in on the right to abortion in several states.

Washington Initiative 638

Testing voters’ views on transgender issues in a deep blue state, the initiative would bar transgender girls in grades 6-12 from playing on girls’ sports teams. It would require doctors to verify an athlete’s sex to determine which league the student is eligible to play on.

Colorado Initiative 110

The measure in another Democratic state would block gender transition surgeries for minors and prevent state or federal funding from being used for these surgeries.

Missouri Amendment 3

The state constitutional amendment would repeal a right to abortion and ban gender transition medical care for children, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Missouri voters had approved the right to abortion in a 2024 initiative.

Idaho Proposition 1

The initiative would overturn one of the nation’s toughest abortion bans, which imposes criminal penalties on doctors who perform abortions.

Other Transgender and Abortion Referendums

Colorado, Arizona and Nebraska voters are also weighing restrictions on transgender students’ participation in sports. Virginia and Nevada voters will weigh in on establishing a right to abortion in their state constitutions.

Environment

Voters in several states will weigh in on policy around energy, transportation and development. In many local races, voters will decide if data centers, the computing sites powering the artificial intelligence boom, have a place in their communities.

California Proposition 45

The initiative would streamline development for large projects like housing, roads and power infrastructure by limiting the scope of environmental reviews, which often draw lawsuits. Supporters say it could help ease the state’s housing crunch, while opponents say it goes beyond housing and warn of its potential to usher in the construction of data centers.

Colorado Amendment 82

A right to sell or purchase natural gas would be added to Colorado’s state constitution in a first-of-its-kind measure. The initiative, promoted by a conservative political nonprofit Advance Colorado, comes as the state’s Democratic legislature and governor are taking steps to limit the use of natural gas to reduce emissions.

Arizona Proposition 141

The measure would amend the state’s constitution to block a tax based on the number of miles driven in a vehicle, an idea promoted by proponents of user taxes to fund infrastructure projects.

Voters in parts of California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, North Dakota, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin will weigh in on greenlighting, banning or otherwise regulating the construction of data centers across dozens of local races.

Initiatives on Initiatives

Voters in several states will set rules governing their own power to create new policy through ballot measures.

Missouri Amendment 6

The constitutional amendment would bar state lawmakers from repealing or amending voter initiatives, unless at least 80 percent of both legislative chambers agree and the voters approve. It would also prevent lawmakers from taking action to weaken citizen initiative and referendum powers.

Idaho House Joint Resolution 4

Voters would be blocked from creating ballot measures to legalize marijuana or other drugs in this constitutional amendment that designates that power only to state lawmakers.