by Jessica Luther

---

Last night was a BIG night in the US. While the presidential election and high-profile national congressional races got most of the media attention, many cities and states in the US passed measures (some good, plenty bad) that have flown under the radar.

The list below is not comprehensive. If you have more to add, please do so in comments (and I will add it to the list as soon as I can). Thank you to everyone who helped me compile this list.

For a rundown of a lot of the positives that came out of the US elections last night, see Melissa McEwan’s post from earlier today.

Alphabetical by state/territory:

ALABAMA

• State-level Amendment 6 (PASSED: “amendment which says no one in Alabama can be forced to participate in any health care plan”) For more on Alabama’s 11 amendments.

ARIZONA

• 9th Congressional District: Kyrsten Sinema LEADING. If elected, she would be “the first openly bisexual member of the U.S. House.”

CALIFORNIA

• State-level Prop 34 (FAILED: “a referendum to abolish the death penalty”)
• State-level Prop 35 (PASSED: to “raise the penalty for those convicted of sex trafficking to as high as life in prison” and “increase fines for trafficking to help support victims”) This proposition is a major blow to sex workers and bodily autonomy. Melissa Gira Grant explains why this proposition is incredibly problematic.
• State-level Prop 36 (PASSED: amending Three Strikes Law) For more on Prop 36.
• State-level Prop 37 (FAILED: requiring food with genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled)
• Los Angeles County ELECTED Jackie Lacey, “the county’s first female and first African American district attorney”
• 41st Congressional District ELECTED Mark Takano to the US House of Representatives, making Takano the “first openly” gay “person of color elected to Congress.”

COLORADO

• City of Longmont’s Question 300 (PASSED: “an amendment to the city’s charter to prohibit hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, and disposal of waste products connected with the process within city limits”) More from Denver Post.
• For more on Colorado’s progressive wins last night.

FLORIDA

• State-level Amendment 5 (FAILED: an amendment to give ”the Senate authority to confirm or deny the appointment of Florida Supreme Court justices by the governor. It also would have made it easier for the Legislature to veto court rules.”)
• State-level Amendment 6 (FAILED: an amendment to “restrict state funding for abortion, limiting private insurance coverage of abortion care, and stripping privacy rights from teen girls seeking to terminate a pregnancy”)
• State-level Amendment 8 (FAILED: an amendment to “lift restrictions on state funding of religious institutions”)
• More on all 11 of Florida’s amendments

HAWAII

• State-level: ELECTED Mazie Hirono, their first “woman senator as well as the first Japan-born immigrant to be elected to the U.S. Senate,” as well as “the first Buddhist and Asian-American woman” elected to the U.S. Senate.
• 2nd Congressional District ELECTED Tulsi Gabbard to the House of Representatives (filling Hirono’s old seat). She is the first Hindu-American to serve in the US Congress and is an Iraq war veteran.

INDIANA

• City of Fishers (FAILED: to create a “hybrid city” with an appointed mayor; PASSED: to become a traditional city). The people of Fishers instead will now elect in 2015 a mayor for the first time in the town (now city’s) history.

KANSAS

• City of Wichita’s Fluoride Initiative (FAILED: initiative to put fluoride in Wichita’s water)
• City of Salina (PASSED: to overturn “city’s protections from discrimination for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and” transgender people)
• City of Hutchinson (PASSED: to repeal “city’s anti-discrimination ordinance”)

KENTUCKY

• State-level Amendment (PASSED: right to hunt and fish should be protected by Kentucky constitution)

MARYLAND

• State-level Question 4 (PASSED: “grants an in-state tuition discount to undocumented college students”)
• Montgomery County Question B (PASSED: to uphold law “ending the police union’s right to bargain effects of management decisions”)

MASSACHUSETTS

• State-level Question 2 (FAILED: question whether doctors could assist in patient’s suicide)
• State-level Question 3 (PASSED: question whether to legalize ”the use of medicinal marijuana for patients with debilitating diseases”)

MICHIGAN

• State-level ballot measure (FAILED: keep “the state’s toughened emergency manager law”)
• For more on the failure of many possible constitutional amendments in Michigand (including collective bargaining, renewable energy, and home health care)
• Cities of Flint, Detroit, and Grand Rapids (PASSED: each had similar measures to “decriminalize personal use of marijuana”)
• Wayne County (Detroit) REELECTED Kym Worthy as district attorney. Worthy rose to national fame in August for leading a massive investigation into serial rapists in her county (via pushing the testing of rape kits).
• City of Troy (PASSED: to recall Mayor Janice Daniels from office). “Daniels, a tea party favorite, was elected to office last year and has been embroiled in a string of controversies regarding her comments about gay people, her opposition to accepting federal funds for a transit center and her public dressing-down of the former city manager.”

MINNESOTA

• State-level Constitutional Amendment (FAILED: “requirement that voters show official government identification at the polls”)
• State-level Constitutional Amendment (FAILED: to “limit marriage to a woman and a man”)
• City of St. Paul Tax Levy Referendum (PASSED: “provide $39 million each year for the next eight years for critical educational services”)

MONTANA

• State-level ballot measure (PASSED: people “under age 16 who seek an abortion will have to notify a parent or seek judicial bypass prior to terminating a pregnancy”)
• State-level ballot measure (PASSED: denies undocumented “immigrants from obtaining state services from student aid to disability benefits”)

OHIO

• State-level Issue 1 (FAILED: to convene “a constitutional convention to decide on ways to revise, amend or change the Ohio Constitution”)
• State-level Issue 2 (FAILED: to create “a new citizens commission to draw districts in Ohio,” aka “redistricting”)

OKLAHOMA

• State-level Constitutional Amendment (PASSED: amendment to end “affirmative action in state government hiring, education and contracting practices”)
• State-level ballot measure (PASSED: “remove the governor from the parole process”)
• State-level ballot measure (PASSED: “restructure the state’s troubled human services department” by shifting “oversight and power to the governor’s office, which will appoint the agency’s director with the consent of the Oklahoma Senate”)

PENNSYLVANIA 

• 182nd District ELECTED Brian Sims to Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He is “the first openly gay person to be elected” to that body.

PUERTO RICO

• Territory-level Non-Binding Referendum (PASSED: on if Puerto Rico should become a US state)

SOUTH DAKOTA

• State-level Referred Law 16 (FAILED: “plan to give bonuses to top teachers, phase out tenure and recruit candidates for critical teaching jobs”)

TEXAS

• City of San Antonio Initiative (PASSED: “a 1/8th of a cent sales tax increase that would fund Pre-K education for kids in San Antonio”)
• Bonus from Oct 30: Dallas County passes domestic partner benefits

WASHINGTON

• State-level Initiative 1185 (PASSED: Initiative requiring ”the Legislature to get a two-thirds majority vote to raise taxes”) Why many people deeply opposed the measure.