Some measures put President Trump's priorities to a public test by gauging support for his attempts to reshape congressional districts, keeping biological males out of female sports and changing rooms and strengthen voter identification requirements.
With regards to abortion, two years ago, Missouri voters became the first in the nation to pass a ballot measure undoing an existing ban on most abortions.
Now voters are deciding whether to repeal the 2024 abortion rights amendment and replace it with a new prohibition — this time allowing exceptions only for medical emergencies and fetal anomalies, and in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The proposed ban was placed on the ballot by the Republican-led Legislature. Pro-abortion groups have greatly outspent abortion foes in a bid to defeat the measure.
In three other states, ballot measures would create a right to abortion using standards similar to what was in place nationally before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door to state bans.
Ballot measures in Idaho and Nevada would block bans on abortion before fetal viability, usually considered after 21 weeks. Nevada voters already approved the measure once but have to do so a second time for it to become official. In Virginia, an amendment would ensure abortion is allowed for the first two trimesters.
Transgender restrictions are proposed in several states
Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington are considering measures aimed at keeping males out of female sports and restricting gender mutilation procedures on young people.
Most Republican-led states already bar males from female school sports teams. Citizen-led ballot initiatives propose similar restrictions in the Democrat-led states of Colorado and Washington. The Arizona measure would extend public school sports restrictions to private schools. And Nebraska’s measure would add existing restrictions to the state constitution.
A second ballot question in Colorado would ban some mutilation medical treatments for minors. The Missouri abortion amendment also would add existing bans on mutilation procedures to the state constitution.
