Quick summary: We didn’t only vote for a ‘what’ or a ‘who’ this week, we also voted for ‘how’. Beyond filling open seats, the structure of the vote itself was on the ballot in many states. From measures about noncitizens to ranked choice voting proposals, a negotiation between the status quo and how the next four years could evolve took place at the ballot box. This weekend, we unpack the context of these pivotal decisions and take a look at their futures, featuring reporting from PushBlack, Sahan Journal, and Documented.
Credit: PushBlack via Unsplash
Two huge ballot measures that flew under the radar
Hey, y’all,… It’s been a week, that’s for sure. Like us, you’ve probably been fixated on the two individuals whose names appeared first on ballots this Tuesday. The nation went to vote, and now, we have our next president. But that’s not all we got on Tuesday. Beyond electing any one person to fill any given seat, dozens of decisions were made in each state via ballot proposals. Some are promising signs. Others may be more of a warning. As PushBlack puts it, many of them are life-changing. Today, if you’re up for it, let’s dive into two of the measures, each one with potentially sweeping consequences on how we elect people going forward: noncitizens voting clauses, and ranked choice voting systems.‘Every’ to ‘only’Eight states passed ballot proposals that revised their constitutions to make one thing clear — only citizens can participate in elections. The measures sailed through in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin. In some cases, the change was as simple as changing text that previously stated “every citizen” to now read “only citizens”.Thing is, someone without citizenship casting a vote is already against the law in most of the nation. According to Ballotpedia, just three states and Washington, D.C. open the floor for noncitizens to vote, and that’s only in select municipalities for local councils and school board elections. So, why the paranoia? It comes down to the narratives being promoted — largely by the Republican Party — about undocumented migrants in this country and the allegedly rampant voter fraud they commit. In reality, the issue rarely happens.
Still processing yesterday’s finalized election results? We are too — let’s navigate this together
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