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Ballotpedia:Analysis of the 2017 ballot measures
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In 2017, twenty-seven (27) statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in nine states. Of those, 22 were on the ballot for the election on November 7, 2017.
Besides the 22 measures on the ballot in November, one measure was on the ballot in Maine on June 13, 2017; one measure was on the ballot in West Virginia for the election on October 7, 2017; and three measures were on the ballot in Louisiana for the election on October 14, 2017. Overall, 21 measures were approved, and six were defeated—counting the advisory votes in Washington in which a majority of voters advised repealing the three tax bills presented to them.
By topic
Topics addressed by ballot measures in 2017:
- Although most measures addressed more than one topic, the list below categorizes each measure into one main topic.
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There were three measures that stuck out: two because they are part of ongoing multi-state efforts by the same groups and one because it was the first of its kind and could be the start of a trend. These measures were Maine Question 2 (Medicaid expansion), Ohio Issue 2 (drug prices), and Ohio Issue 1 (Marsy's Law). Details about the initiatives and the reasons they are highlighted here are below.
Medicaid expansion
Maine Question 2 was the first time a citizen initiative had been used to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Maine Question 2 was approved 58.95 percent to 41.05 percent. Question 2 was the first initiative to expand Medicaid, and similar initiatives were filed targeting a place on the 2018 ballot in the following states:
Moreover, two Medicaid-related initiatives were filed for circulation in Alaska: the Alaska Medicaid and Denali KidCare Expansion Law Initiative and the Alaska Specific Affordable Care Act Requirements as State Law Initiative. Ultimately, proponents of the Alaska initiatives abandoned their efforts for the 2018 ballot.
Following the approval of Question 2, Jonathan Schleifer, Executive Director of The Fairness Project, said, "We need to end the conversation around repealing Obamacare and make it very clear, as we did last night, that folks want to expand it. We’re not waiting until 2020, we’re going to get as much of this done in 2018 as we can."[1]
Drug prices
Ohio Issue 2 was the second initiative sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation seeking to tie prescription drug prices to prices paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The first was California Proposition 61 in 2016. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has made it clear that it wants to put this measure on the ballot in multiple states; the group is backing a similar effort in South Dakota and filed an initiative in Washington, D.C. Pharmaceutical companies have made it equally clear that they are going to put a lot of money behind opposition campaigns to defeat these measures; California Prop. 61 and Ohio Issue 2 were the most expensive ballot measure battles in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and Ohio Issue 2 broke state ballot measure campaign spending records.
Marsy's Law
Ohio Issue 1 was a Marsy's Law, which is a bill of rights for crime victims. Going into the election, five other states had ratified constitutional amendments known as Marsy's Law. The first of these states was California in 2008, where voters approved the citizen-initiated Proposition 9. In 2014, the Illinois State Legislature became the first legislature to refer a Marsy's Law, which voters approved. Marsy's Law for All, a national group, sponsored initiative campaigns in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in 2016. Henry Nicholas, the co-founder of Broadcom Corp., provided financial backing for the initiatives. Voters approved the three measures. As of 2017, a Marsy's Law measure had never been defeated at the ballot box. In 2018, voters in Nevada and Oklahoma considered Marsy's Law amendments. The amendment is named after Nicholas' sister, Marsy Nicholas, who was murdered in 1983.
Statistical summary
The charts below include all statewide election results from the statewide ballot measure elections in 2017. This section breaks down the measures by type.
| 2017 election stats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Approved (%) | Defeated (%) | ||
| 27 | 21 (77.78%) | 6 (22.22%) | ||
Initiated measures
- See also: Ballot initiative and Veto referendum
| Initiatives | Amendments | Statutes | Veto referendums | Approved 
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Rejected 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 (50%) | 2 (50%) |
Legislatively referred amendments and statutes
- See also: Legislative referral
| Referrals | Amendments | Statutes | Approved
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Rejected
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 16 | 0 | 16 (100%) | 0 (0%) |
Bond issues
- See also: Bond issue
Ballotpedia distinguishes between bond issues that are put on the ballot by the legislature through a legal process specifically designed for such proposals and alterations to state statute or the state constitution that call for bonded indebtedness.
Although four bond measures were decided in 2017, one—Amendment 1 in West Virginia—was in the form of a constitutional amendment and is, therefore, counted among other legislatively referred constitutional amendments above.
| Bond issues | Approved
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Rejected
|
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 (100%) | 0 (0%) |
Advisory questions
- See also: Advisory question
| Questions | Approved
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Rejected
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|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 (100%) | 0 (0%) |
Automatic ballot referrals
- See also: Automatic ballot referral
In certain states, measures are automatically put on the ballot by law.
| Questions | Approved
|
Rejected
|
|---|---|---|
| 1[2] | 1 (100%) | 0 (0%) |
Measures through the years
A trend of lower numbers of total statewide measures continued in 2017, with a total of 27 statewide measures on the ballot. This was the lowest number of statewide measures to go before voters in any year between 1947 and 2017. The chart below on the left shows the number of initiatives, referrals, and other types of measures in each year since 2000, with the highest numbers of measures highlighted. The chart on the right shows a more detailed breakdown of measures by type in odd-numbered years since 2009. Odd-numbered years feature much fewer statewide measures than in even-numbered years.
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Readability scores for ballot measures
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2017
A readability score is an estimation of the reading difficulty of a text. Measurements used in calculating readability scores include the number of syllables, words, and sentences in a text. Other factors, such as the complexity of an idea in a text, are not reflected in readability scores. Ballotpedia uses the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formulas; these formulas use the same variables and are inversely correlated, meaning that as one increases the other decreases.
Click here to read Ballotpedia's full report on the readability scores of ballot measures in 2017.
2017 initiative activity
There are 26 states with some form of citizen-initiated direct democracy. Five states feature citizen initiatives on the ballot in odd-numbered years; Mississippi only features ballot initiatives in every other odd-numbered year when there is a gubernatorial election, and 2017 wasn't one of those years. In 2017, four initiatives were on the ballot in two states.
Before initiatives in these states were placed on the ballot, their sponsors had to file petitions with their state election officials and collect signatures. This process means that some initiative efforts fail for various reasons, including unconstitutional ballot text, shortage of valid signatures, and missed deadlines. Out of the 142 total initiatives filed with state officials, 2.8 percent made the ballot.
Summary
| # of initiatives proposed | # initiatives certified in 2017 | % certified | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Totals: | 142 | 4 | 2.8% |
In comparison, 151 initiatives were filed in 2015, and five (3.3 percent) made the ballot. In 2013, 133 were filed, and three (2.2 percent) made the ballot. In 2011, 137 were filed, and 12 (8.7 percent) made the ballot.
Signature collection costs
- See also: Petition costs in 2017 and Cost per required signature analysis
There were four initiatives that made the ballot in 2017; two in Ohio and two in Maine. In total, $6,855,998.82 was spent on the signature petition drives that qualified the measures for the ballot. A total of 613,191 valid signatures were required to put the four measures on the ballot. One measure, Maine Question 2, had a signature petition cost of about $1,000, which means the petition drive was mostly accomplished by volunteers. The average among the other three initiatives was about $2.3 million. The average cost per required signature (CPRS) including the volunteer effort for Maine Question 2 was $61.62.
Ohio
In Ohio in 2017, the average CPRS was $8.8. In Ohio in 2015, one initiative qualified for the ballot; the CPRS for it was $8.13.
The cost-per-required-signature (CPRS) for the Ohio Drug Price Standards Initiative was $10.13, three times the CPRS for Prop. 61, the similar initiative on the ballot in California in 2016; Prop. 61 was backed by the same group, which hired PCI Consultants, Inc. to run both petition drives.
| Ballot Measure: | Topic: | Cost | Required signatures | CPRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio Issue 2: Drug Price Standards Initiative | Healthcare | $1,867,206.70 | 184,354 | $10.13 |
| Ohio Issue 1: Marsy's Law Crime Victim Rights Initiative | Law enforcement | $2,300,000.00 | 306,591 | $7.50 |
The campaign behind Ohio Issue 1 hired Advanced Micro Targeting to collect signatures. The campaign behind Ohio Issue 2 hired PCI Consultants, Inc.
Maine
Maine Question 1—the initiative to authorize Shawn Scott to operate a casino or slot machines—had the highest CPRS, with the campaign spending $43.97 for every signature required to put the measure on the ballot. The campaign also had the highest contributions per vote, paying $163.97 for each of the 57,538 votes the measure received; the initiative was defeated 83.29 percent to 16.71 percent.
The CPRS for the Maine Casino or Slot Machines in York County Initiative was $43.97, over 5.6 times the CPRS for the Maine measure with the highest CPRS in 2016 and over 7.9 times the average CPRS for Maine in 2016.
Maine Question 2 had negligible signature petition costs to get on the ballot.
| Ballot Measure: | Topic: | Cost | Required signatures | CPRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine Question 1: Casino or Slot Machines in York County Initiative | Gambling | $2,687,826.38 | 61,123 | $43.97 |
| Maine Question 2: Medicaid Expansion Initiative | Healthcare | $965.74 | 61,123 | $0.02 |
The campaign behind Maine Question 1 hired Olympic Consulting, Silver Bullet Group Inc., Labor Ready, Encore Political Services, and J.E.F. Associates to collect signatures for its petition drive.
Campaign contributions
Ballotpedia tracked about $107.80 million in contributions to ballot measure campaigns in 2017. Support campaigns raised $43.71 million, while opposition campaigns raised $64.56 million. Citizen initiatives pulled in the majority of contributions with more than $101.24 million in contributions. In comparison, campaigns surrounding legislative referrals and other measures raised about $7.03 million.
Total contributions
Contributions for individual measures:
An initiative in Ohio led the pack in campaign contributions for 2017, followed distantly by a Maine initiative:
- The Ohio Issue 2, Drug Price Standards Initiative, a measure designed to require the state and state agencies, including the Ohio Department of Medicaid, to pay the same or lower prices for prescriptions drugs as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, garnered more than $77.41 million in total contributions. $59.12 million of the total was raised for the opposition and $18.29 million for the support campaign.
- Campaigns in support and opposition of Maine Question 1, Casino or Slot Machines in York County Initiative, an initiative designed to allow for slot machines or a casino in York County, Maine, raised a total of $10.16 million. The support campaign raised over $9.43 million, while the opposition raised $723,198.
Contributions by state:
Campaigns in support of and opposition to two Ohio ballot measures amassed over $87.99 million in campaign contributions. The campaigns for two initiated measures and one legislatively referred measure in Maine collected the second highest total in contributions at a distant $13.38 million. Other states with ballot measure contributions for the year included New York ($6 Million), Texas (over $1 million) and Louisiana ($536,000).
Contributions per vote
One method for analyzing the effectiveness of campaigns is to look at the size of their funds relative to the number of votes their position received.
The contributions per vote for the four citizen initiatives on the ballot in 2017 are below:
| Measure | Status | Support | Opposition | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine Question 1: Casino Initiative |  |
$163.97 | $2.52 | $161.45 |
| Maine Question 2: Medicaid Expansion |  |
$13.15 | $3.02 | $10.13 |
| Ohio Issue 1: Marsy's Law | |
$5.50 | $0.00 | $5.50 |
| Ohio Issue 2: Drug Price | |
$37.79 | $32.18 | $5.61 |
Click here to read Ballotpedia's full report on contributions per vote in 2017.
Bond and tax issues on the ballot
Below is a summary of the bond and tax issues that appeared on the 2017 statewide ballots:
Bond issues
Bonds in 2017 
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| Total bond measures: | 4 |
| Approved: | 4 |
| Defeated: | 0 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2017. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of the bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study.
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2017 and how much money was approved versus how much was defeated. Voters approved all of the four bond measures.
Bond issues appeared on primary and general election ballots in Maine, New Jersey, and West Virginia.
| Total amount on 2017 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $1,880,000,000 | $1,880,000,000 | $0.00 |
Tax issues
There were eight ballot measures addressing taxes in four states in 2017. Measures related to state taxes appeared on the ballot in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.
Louisiana
- See also: Louisiana 2017 ballot measures
In Louisiana, voters approved two amendments related to taxes in October 2017; both created property tax exemptions.
- Amendment 1 created a tax exemption for properties under construction.
- Amendment 2 created a property tax exemption for the primary residences of surviving spouses of emergency responders killed while performing duties.
Pennsylvania
- See also: Pennsylvania 2017 ballot measures
In Pennsylvania, voters approved an amendment that increased the amount that local jurisdictions were authorized to exempt from homestead property taxes from up to 50 percent of the median value to up to 100 percent of the assessed value of each homestead.
Texas
- See also: Texas 2017 ballot measures
In Texas, voters approved two amendments related to taxes; both created property tax exemptions.
- Texas Proposition 1 allowed the legislature to provide partially-disabled veterans or their surviving spouses with a property tax exemption equal to the percentage of their disability if the veteran's home was donated to him or her by a charity for less than market value.
- Texas Proposition 6 allowed the legislature to provide a property tax exemption for the homes of surviving spouses of first responders killed in the line of duty.
Washington
- See also: Washington 2017 ballot measures
Due to Initiative 960, advisory votes are required for bills passed by the state Legislature that are designed to increase taxes. By August 1 of each year, the attorney general is required to notify the secretary of state of tax increases subject to advisory votes at the next general election. In 2017, three such advisory questions were put on the ballot; voters advised repealing all three tax revenue bills put before them.
See also
- 2017 ballot measures
- Ballot measure readability scores, 2017
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2017
- Ballot measure campaign finance, 2017
- Ballot Measure Scorecard, 2017
- Ballotpedia's Tuesday Count for 2017
- List of ballot measure lawsuits in 2017
- 2017 ballot measure polls
- 2017 ballot measure media endorsements
Foot notes
- ↑ Salon, "Paul LePage ignores Maine voters to block Medicaid expansion, marijuana legalization," November 8, 2017
- ↑ Note: Three advisory questions were automatically triggered by legislation in Washington. These were counted in the section on advisory questions.
