Analysis of statewide bond measures and trifecta status

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article summarizes statewide bond measures and party control from 2000 to 2020. Bond measures are put on the ballot to authorize a state or district to take on a certain amount of bond debt. Some states have voter approval requirements for statewide bond debt, while others do not. There were a total of 244 statewide bond measures on the ballot from 2000 to 2020, asking voters to authorize up to $254.63 billion[1] in bond debt in 22 states.

Eleven citizen initiative petitions placed statewide bond measures on the ballot from 2000 to 2020, and state legislatures referred the other 233 measures to the ballot. Of the 233 legislatively referred measures, 24 were proposed through constitutional amendments.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Of the 244 total bond measures, 214 measures authorizing a total $199.281 billion[2] were approved and 30 measures proposing a total of $55.353 billion[3] were defeated.
  • An average of 12 statewide bond measures were voted on per year, with the most measures (26) voted on in 2002, and no statewide bond measures voted on in 2011.
  • $254.63 billion in statewide bond debt was on the ballot from 2000 to 2020, $199.281 billion of which was approved. The state with the largest amount of bond debt on the ballot was California with $182.2 billion, $152.4 billion of which was approved.
  • 95 statewide bond measures were on the ballot in states with Democratic trifectas, and 20 statewide bond measures were on the ballot in states with Republican trifectas.
  • The three states with the most measures on the ballot were Maine (60), Rhode Island (49), and New Mexico (40).

    • By year

    Of the 244 statewide bond measures to appear on the ballot from 2000 to 2020, an average of 12 statewide bond measures were voted on per year. The year with the most statewide bond measures was 2002, which had 26 measures on the ballot. In 2011, there were no bond measures on the ballot. A total of 214 statewide bond measures were approved from 2000 to 2020 and 30 were defeated; the graphic below shows the number of bond measures approved and defeated by year.

    States with Democratic trifectas had the most statewide bond measures on the ballot (95), followed by states with divided governments where Democrats controlled the legislature (79); the graphic below shows the party control and number of bond measures voted on by year.

    Party control

    From 2000 to 2020, 115 of the 244 statewide bond measures were on the ballot in states with trifecta status, while 129 measures were in states with divided government. Democratic trifecta states had the most statewide bond measures with 95, followed by divided governments where Democrats controlled the legislature with 79 measures. States with Republican trifectas voted on 20 statewide bond measures, and states with divided governments where Republicans controlled the legislature had nine statewide bond measures on the ballot. The remaining 41 measures were split between states with divided legislatures as follows:

    • Governor (R) House (D) Senate (R) - 18 measures
    • Governor (I) House (D) Senate (Split) - 10 measures
    • Governor (R) House (R) Senate (D) - 8 measures
    • Governor (D) House (D) Senate (R) - 4 measures
    • Governor (D) House (D) Senate (Split) - 1 measure

    The chart below shows the statewide bond measures and party control of the state government.

    States with divided legislatures had the highest approval rate for statewide bond measures with 95.1% approved, followed by states with Democratic trifectas (89.5%). States with Republican trifectas had the lowest rate of approval with 80% of statewide bond measures approved. The graphic below shows the percentage of statewide bond measures approved from 2000 to 2020 by party control.

    Overall, approved measures had an average 24.86% margin-of-victory (calculated by subtracting the total "no" votes from the total "yes" votes), and defeated measures had an average 11.19% margin-of-defeat (calculated by subtracting the total "yes" votes from the total "no" votes). States with divided governments where Republicans controlled the legislature had the highest average margin-of-victory both for approved (36.04%) and defeated (14.7%) measures, although there was only one statewide bond measure defeated in a state with divided government where Republicans controlled the legislature. States with Republican trifectas had the lowest average margin-of-victory for approved measures (23.8%), and states with Democratic trifectas had the lowest average margin-of-defeat for defeated measures (7.67%). The graphic below show the average margin-of-victory / defeat by state party control from 2000 to 2020.

    By state

    Not all states require all statewide bond measures to be approved by voters, the 244 statewide bond measures on the ballot from 2000 to 2020 were divided between 22 states. Maine had the most statewide bond measures in this timeframe (60), followed by Rhode Island (49) and New Mexico (40); seven states had only one statewide bond measure on the ballot. Of the total $254.63 billion of statewide bond debt on the ballot from 2000 to 2020, $199.281 billion was approved. The state with the largest amount of bond debt on the ballot was California with $182.2 billion, $152.4 billion of which was approved. The graphic below shows the breakdown of bond measures by state.

    Data

    <

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ The exact amount of bond debt on the ballot from 2000 to 2020 was $254,634,287,492
    2. ↑ The exact amount of bond debt approved from 2000 to 2020 was $199,281,415,168.
    3. ↑ The total amount of bond debt defeated from 2000 to 2020 was $55,352,872,324
    v • e
    Statewide ballot measures
    State
    A • Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • C • California • Colorado • Connecticut • F • Florida • G • Georgia • H • Hawaii • I • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • K • Kansas • Kentucky • L • Louisiana • M • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • N • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • O • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • P • Pennsylvania • R • Rhode Island • S • South Carolina • South Dakota • T • Tennessee • Texas • U • Utah • V • Vermont • Virginia • W • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming
    Ballot Measures overview
    By topic
    A • Abortion • Admin of gov't • Affirmative action • Alcohol • Animal rights • Assisted death • B • Bonds • Budgets • Business regulation • C • Campaigns • Civil rights • Constitutional conventions • Constitutional language • County government • D • Daylight Saving Time • Death penalty • Direct democracy • E • Earthquakes • Education • Elections • Eminent domain • English • Environment • Executives • F • Federal constitutional issues • Firearms • G • Gambling • Government accountability • H • Healthcare • Housing • Hunting • I • Immigration • Insurance • J • State judiciary • L • LGBT • Labor • Law enforcement • Legislatures • M • Marijuana • Marriage • Minimum wage • Mottos • Municipal government • N • Natural resources • P • Pensions • Property • Public finance • R • Recall • Redistricting • Race and ethnicity • Religion • Rules about Sunday • S • Salaries of elected officials • Smoking bans • State budgets • State executives • State judiciary • State legislatures • Stem cells • Supermajority requirements • Sundays • T • Taxes • Tobacco • Transportation • U • Unions • Utilities • V • Veterans • W • Wages • War and peace • Water • Welfare
    By type
    By year
    2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000 • 1999 • 1998 • 1997 • 1996 • 1995 • 1994 • 1993 • 1992 • 1991 • 1990 • 1989 • 1988 • 1987 • 1986 • 1985 • 1984 • 1983 • 1982 • 1981 • 1980 • 1979 • 1978 • 1977 • 1976 • 1975 • 1974 • 1973 • 1972 • 1971 • 1970 • 1969 • 1968 • 1967 • 1966 • 1965 • 1964 • 1963 • 1962 • 1961 • 1960 • 1959 • 1958 • 1957 • 1956 • 1955 • 1954 • 1953 • 1952 • 1951 • 1950 • 1949 • 1948 • 1947 • 1946 • 1945 • 1944 • 1943 • 1942 • 1941 • 1940 • 1939 • 1938 • 1937 • 1936 • 1935 • 1934 • 1933 • 1932 • 1931 • 1930 • 1929 • 1928 • 1927 • 1926 • 1925 • 1924 • 1923 • 1922 • 1921 • 1920 • 1919 • 1918 • 1917 • 1916 • 1915 • 1914 • 1913 • 1912 • 1911 • 1910 • 1909 • 1908 • 1907 • 1906 • 1905 • 1904 • 1903 • 1902 • 1901 • 1900
    Other
    Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Analysis_of_statewide_bond_measures_and_trifecta_status&oldid=8711352"