Your monthly support provides voters the knowledge they need to make confident decisions at the polls. Donate today.
Ballot Measure Scorecard, 2021
| 2021 U.S. state ballot measures | |
|---|---|
2022 »
« 2020
| |
 | |
| Overview | |
| Scorecard | |
| Tuesday Count | |
| Deadlines | |
| Requirements | |
| Lawsuits | |
| Readability | |
| Voter guides | |
| Election results | |
| Year-end analysis | |
| Campaigns | |
| Polls | |
| Media editorials | |
| Filed initiatives | |
| Finances | |
| Contributions | |
| Signature costs | |
| Ballot Measure Monthly | |
| Signature requirements | |
Have you subscribed yet?
Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew.
| |
The Ballot Measure Scorecard lists statewide ballot measures certified for elections in 2021, along with indirect initiated measures that were approved by legislatures.
The Scorecard filters certified initiatives based on type of ballot measure.
See also: Overview of 2021 ballot measures
Certified for ballot
Statewide ballot measures were listed here once they had officially qualified or been scheduled to appear on the ballot. All statewide measures are listed by election date, including citizen initiatives, veto referendums, legislatively referred constitutional amendments, legislatively referred state statutes, legislatively referred bond questions, commission referrals, and automatic referrals.
March 2
- Rhode Island Question 1, Higher Education Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 4, Transportation Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 5, Early Childhood Care and Education Capital Fund Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 6, Cultural Arts and State Preservation Grant Programs Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 7, Improvements to Industrial Facilities Infrastructure Bond Measure (March 2021)
May 18
- Pennsylvania Question 1, Legislative Resolution to Extend or Terminate Emergency Declaration Amendment (May 2021)
- Pennsylvania Question 2, Emergency Declarations Amendment (May 2021)
- Pennsylvania Question 3, Equal Rights Regardless of Race or Ethnicity Amendment (May 2021)
- Pennsylvania Question 4, Municipal Fire and EMS Services Loans Measure (May 2021)
November 2
- New York Proposal 4, Allow for No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment (2021)
- New York Proposal 3, Remove 10-Day-Advance Voter Registration Requirement Amendment (2021)
- New York Proposal 2, Environmental Rights Amendment (2021)
- New York Proposal 5, NYC Civil Court Jurisdiction Amendment (2021)
- New York Proposal 1, Redistricting Changes Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 7, Homestead Tax Limit for Surviving Spouses of Disabled Individuals Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 4, Changes to Eligibility for Certain Judicial Offices Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 2, Authorize Counties to Issue Infrastructure Bonds in Blighted Areas Amendment (2021)
- Maine Question 3, Right to Produce, Harvest, and Consume Food Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 5, State Commission on Judicial Conduct Authority Over Candidates for Judicial Office Amendment (2021)
- New Jersey Public Question 2, Raffle Money for Organizations Amendment (2021)
- New Jersey Public Question 1, Sports Betting on State College Athletics Amendment (2021)
- Maine Question 2, Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue (2021)
- Washington Advisory Vote 36, Nonbinding Question on Telephone Tax to Fund Behavioral Health Crisis Response and Suicide Prevention (2021)
- Maine Question 1, Electric Transmission Line Restrictions and Legislative Approval Initiative (2021)
- Colorado Proposition 120, Reduce Property Tax Rates and Retain $25 Million in TABOR Surplus Revenue Initiative (2021)
- Colorado Proposition 119, Creation of Out-of-School Education Program and Marijuana Sales Tax Increase Initiative (2021)
- Colorado Amendment 78, Custodial Fund Appropriations Initiative (2021)
November 13
- Louisiana Amendment 4, Increase Limit on Funding Reductions and Redirections During Budget Deficits Measure (2021)
- Louisiana Amendment 2, Reduction of the Maximum Individual Income Tax Rate Measure (2021)
- Louisiana Amendment 1, Creation of the State and Local Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Commission Measure (2021)
Signatures submitted
Proposed ballot initiatives were listed here when the initiatives' sponsors had turned in their petition signatures to election authorities, but the petitions had not been certified for the ballot. In some states, signature submission can take place over a long period of time and signatures can be submitted in multiple batches or must be submitted as they are collected. Only initiatives for which the signature submission process is complete were listed below.
Citizen-initiated measures with signatures submitted:
Any signatures submitted for 2021 initiatives have been processed.
Initiatives certified to the legislature
- See also: Indirect initiative
This phase of the initiative process only applies to indirect initiatives.
Ballot initiatives in states that feature an indirect initiative process must go before the state legislature after signatures are submitted and enough of the submitted signatures are found to be valid. This presentation to the legislature is an intermediate step for successful signature petition drives between when an initiative petition is found to be sufficient and certification for the ballot. In some states with an indirect initiative process, the legislature can approve the proposed law themselves or put it before voters. In other states, the legislature has the chance to propose alternatives or amendments to the initiatives that can appear alongside the citizen initiative on the ballot.
Initiatives certified to the legislature:
Any 2021 inidirect initiatives that were certified to the legislature have either been approved by legislators or referred to the ballot.
Approved by the legislature
This phase of the initiative process only applies to indirect initiatives.
Ballot initiatives in states that feature an indirect initiative process must go before the state legislature after signatures are submitted and enough of the submitted signatures are found to be valid. This presentation to the legislature is an intermediate step for successful signature petition drives between when an initiative petition is found to be sufficient and certification for the ballot. In some states with an indirect initiative process, the legislature can approve the proposed law themselves or put it before voters. In other states, the legislature has the chance to propose alternatives or amendments to the initiatives that can appear alongside the citizen initiative on the ballot. In some states, there are certain rules, such as legislative alteration rules, that don't apply if the legislature approves the initiative rather than putting it before voters.
Successful 2021 initiative petitions that were previously certified to the legislature and that were approved by the legislature instead of being put on the ballot are listed below:
Initiatives approved by the legislature:
- No 2021 indirect initiatives were approved by the legislature rather than going before voters.
Amendments
All states but Delaware require voter approval of proposed changes to the state constitutions, which can be put on the ballot in 2021 by state legislators or through initiative signature petitions in eighteen states. In some years, there are constitutional conventions or unique commissions in Florida that can refer amendments to the ballot, but neither of these were relevant in 2021. There are rare scenarios in which technical and non-substantive changes can be made to state constitutions without voter approval. All certified statewide measures in 2021 proposing to amend state constitutions that require statewide voter approval were listed here. This list includes any certified initiated constitutional amendments (in the first section) and legislatively referred constitutional amendments (in the second section).
The list does not include proposed constitutional amendments of local applicability that only required local voter approval. It also does not include amendments that did not require voter approval.
Initiated amendments
Legislatively referred amendments
- New York Proposal 1, Redistricting Changes Amendment (2021)
- Pennsylvania Question 3, Equal Rights Regardless of Race or Ethnicity Amendment (May 2021)
- Pennsylvania Question 2, Emergency Declarations Amendment (May 2021)
- Pennsylvania Question 1, Legislative Resolution to Extend or Terminate Emergency Declaration Amendment (May 2021)
- New York Proposal 4, Allow for No-Excuse Absentee Voting Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 7, Homestead Tax Limit for Surviving Spouses of Disabled Individuals Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 4, Changes to Eligibility for Certain Judicial Offices Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 5, State Commission on Judicial Conduct Authority Over Candidates for Judicial Office Amendment (2021)
- Texas Proposition 2, Authorize Counties to Issue Infrastructure Bonds in Blighted Areas Amendment (2021)
- Louisiana Amendment 4, Increase Limit on Funding Reductions and Redirections During Budget Deficits Measure (2021)
- New York Proposal 5, NYC Civil Court Jurisdiction Amendment (2021)
- New Jersey Public Question 2, Raffle Money for Organizations Amendment (2021)
- New Jersey Public Question 1, Sports Betting on State College Athletics Amendment (2021)
- Louisiana Amendment 1, Creation of the State and Local Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Commission Measure (2021)
- Louisiana Amendment 2, Reduction of the Maximum Individual Income Tax Rate Measure (2021)
- Maine Question 3, Right to Produce, Harvest, and Consume Food Amendment (2021)
- New York Proposal 3, Remove 10-Day-Advance Voter Registration Requirement Amendment (2021)
- New York Proposal 2, Environmental Rights Amendment (2021)
Statutes
Most statutes that go before voters are put on the ballot by a citizen initiative petition. While state legislators can refer state statutes to the voters in certain states, they generally aren't required to as they do with proposed constitutional amendments. In Arizona and California, voter approval is required for statutory changes of laws previously approved through a citizen initiative. The list below includes both initiated state statutes and legislatively referred state statutes that were put on ballots in 2021.
Initiated statutes
- Maine Question 1, Electric Transmission Line Restrictions and Legislative Approval Initiative (2021)
- Colorado Proposition 120, Reduce Property Tax Rates and Retain $25 Million in TABOR Surplus Revenue Initiative (2021)
- Colorado Proposition 119, Creation of Out-of-School Education Program and Marijuana Sales Tax Increase Initiative (2021)
- Colorado Amendment 78, Custodial Fund Appropriations Initiative (2021)
Referred statutes
Veto referendums
A veto referendum is a type of citizen-initiated measure. But, instead of proposing a new law, a veto referendum is used by petitioners to seek the repeal of a law passed by the state legislature. The power of veto referendum is also referred to as people's veto.
There were no certified veto referendums in 2021.
Referred bond issues
In some states, the legislature is able to or required to put certain proposed bond issues before voters. This section lists legislatively referred bond questions. It does not list other types of measures that happened to propose the issuance of bonds or other indebtedness. For example, initiated constitutional amendments or initiated state statutes that were put on the ballot proposing the issuance of bonds are listed under the sections of this article about initiated constitutional amendments and initiated state statutes, respectively. To see a full list of all statewide measures proposing the issuance of bonds, regardless of what type of measure was used, click here.
- Rhode Island Question 1, Higher Education Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 4, Transportation Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 5, Early Childhood Care and Education Capital Fund Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 6, Cultural Arts and State Preservation Grant Programs Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Rhode Island Question 7, Improvements to Industrial Facilities Infrastructure Bond Measure (March 2021)
- Maine Question 2, Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue (2021)
Automatic referrals
Some measures are referred to the ballot automatically by a provision of a state constitution or state law. One common type of automatic referral is a constitutional convention question periodically asking voters in a state if they want a constitutional convention to be held to consider revisions to the state constitution.
There were no certified automatic referrals in 2021.
See also
- 2021 ballot measures
- Potential 2021 ballot measures
- Ballot measure annual scorecards
- Ballotpedia's Tuesday Count for 2021
| |||||||||||||||||||
