by Steve Wilson
Voters nationwide approved seven of 10 ballot initiatives preserving abortion rights.
Five on marijuana got a mixed response on Tuesday.
Recreational marijuana initiatives were rejected by voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota, while Nebraska voters approved two related ballot items that would create a medical program in the state.
Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York voters all approved adding a constitutional right to abortion. Only Missouri was close, as 52% of voters approve Missouri’s Amendment 3.
Maryland voters approved Question 1 with 74% of the vote, while similar amendments in New York, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado received 60% or more of ballots cast.
Fifty-one percent of Nebraska voters rejected a similar initiative while passing another that would prohibit abortion after the first trimester with a few exceptions. Initiative 434 received 55% of the vote.
Fundraising likely helped passage of the successful amendments in all states but Florida, where abortion rights and pro-recreational marijuana groups raised a combined $271 million. The notable exception was buoyed by opposition for both amendments from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ballot initiatives require 60% of the vote to pass in Florida and while a majority of voters approved both, it still wasn’t enough amid a landslide for President-elect Donald Trump and downballot races.
Amendment 3, a proposed recreational cannabis program in the state, failed with 55.75% approving out of 10.35 million ballots cast and 44.25% opposed according to preliminary results from the Florida secretary of state’s office.
Safe & Smart Florida, the group behind Amendment 3, said on X it was looking forward to working to working with DeSantis and lawmakers on decriminalizing recreational marijuana for adults, focusing on child safety and expanding safe access through home grown marijuana.
Floridians Protecting Freedom and the American Civil Liberties Union said the fight for abortion rights will continue despite Amendment 4’s defeat.
Voters also shot down Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion rights in the constitution, with 57.02% saying yes out of 10.33 million ballots cast. Those opposed were 42.98%.
Pro-Amendment 3 spending added up to $153 million, with $148 million coming from one cannabis retailer, Florida-based Trulieve.
Nationwide, abortion rights groups outraised anti-abortion groups by a huge margin, with Florida leading the way with $118 million for and only $12 million against.
Arizona’s Proposition 139 had $35 million in contributions, while opponents only raised $1.34 million.
Nevada’s Question 6 supporters gathered a war chest of $11.28 million while foes recorded no contributions.
In Montana, CI-128 supporters had $18 million in contributions compared to $211,510 raised by amendment foes.
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Steve Wilson has been an award-winning writer and editor for nearly 20 years at newspapers in Georgia, Florida and Mississippi and is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and University of Alabama graduate. Wilson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
Photo “Voting Booths” by Corey Seeman. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
