Local ballot measure statistics, 2010

This page includes a select group of ballot measures (school measures are separate and can be found here: School approval rates) which were reported in the ten states followed closely by the writer and the pass rates of each category of measure. It should be noted that statistics only reflect those measures which were reported on the site, not every issue made it on the election pages for various reasons.

2010 Local Ballot Measures
Election dates
Measures on the ballot
School bond & tax approval rates (Part 1) • (Part 2)
Local measure analysis

County wide measures

County property taxes were by far the most abundant form of County measure during the year with 157 total measures in nine states.

County Property Taxes

See also: List of 2010 county property tax measures

Michigan and Ohio were the two states with a significant amount of county property tax measures on their ballots throughout the year with 52 and 61 measures respectively. For the year, the pass rate of Michigan’s measures was 85% and Ohio had a pass rate of 87%. Florida also had a high pass rate, 84%, but only had 13 measures for the year. Arizona and Colorado both had a pass rate of 100% but only had 1 and 3 measures on their ballots. Oregon was the only state to have a below 50% approval rating, with just 33%.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	1	0	100%
Colorado	3	0	100%
Florida	11	2	84%
Illinois	4	3	57%
Michigan	44	8	85%
Missouri	3	3	50%
Ohio	53	8	87%
Oregon	2	4	33%
Washington	6	3	67%
Totals:	126	31	80.3%

County Bond

See also: List of 2010 county bond measures

There were only a few counties which asked residents to consider bonds for the year, Missouri had the most with a total of 6 measures, 5 of them being approved. Overall though the same amount of measures were defeated as were approved by voters.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Colorado	1	2	33%
Florida	1	0	100%
Illinois	0	3	0%
Missouri	5	1	83%
Oregon	1	1	50%
Washington	0	1	0%
Totals:	8	8	50%

County Sales Tax

See also: List of 2010 county sales tax measures

County sales tax measures did not fair as well for the year, with more measures getting defeated rather than approved. Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Washington all had lower than 50% approval ratings. Missouri had the most measures, 12, with 9 passing meaning a 75% pass rate.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Colorado	1	1	50%
Florida	0	5	0%
Illinois	3	5	38%
Missouri	9	3	75%
Ohio	2	3	40%
Washington	2	3	40%
Totals:	17	20	46%

City Measures

On the local City level, City Property Taxes, District Property Taxes and Charter Amendments had well over 100 total measures from the various states throughout the year. City Bond and Sales Tax measures along with Annexation measures also had a fair few for the year.

City Property Tax

See also: List of 2010 city property tax measures

Local municipalities asked for property tax approvals more than any other type of measure on the 2010 ballots. Michigan had by far the most property tax questions on their ballots with a total of 277 with a 73% approval rating. Ohio and Washington also had a good amount with 61 in Ohio and 41 in Washington. Arizona and Wisconsin both with only 1 measure having them both failed stand as the lowest ratings in the states.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	0	1	0%
Colorado	7	1	88%
Florida	10	0	100%
Illinois	5	19	21%
Michigan	201	76	73%
Missouri	19	5	79%
Ohio	48	13	79%
Oregon	4	4	50%
Washington	37	4	90%
Wisconsin	0	1	0%
Totals:	331	126	72.4%

City Sales Tax

See also: List of 2010 city sales tax measures

The question of increased or additional sales taxes in different municipalities was not as popular for 2010, Missouri and Colorado held the most sales tax ballot questions with 21 measures and 19. Both though had more defeated than approved with approval ratings for both states at 47%. Florida, Ohio and Washington all had 100% approval ratings but only 1 or 2 sales tax questions had been asked of voters.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	3	4	43%
Colorado	9	10	47%
Florida	1	0	100%
Illinois	6	2	21%
Missouri	10	11	47%
Ohio	2	0	100%
Washington	2	0	100%
Totals:	33	27	55%

City Utility Tax

See also: List of 2010 city utility tax measures

Only 9 Utility taxes were on the ballot in 2010, the most in Illinois with 2 questions asked but none approved. The trend seemed to be either 0 or 100% approval, with Colorado the only one split at 50% approval.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	1	0	100%
Colorado	1	1	50%
Illinois	0	2	0%
Michigan	1	0	100%
Missouri	0	1	0%
Oregon	1	0	100%
Washington	0	1	0%
Totals:	4	5	44%

City Bond

See also: List of 2010 city bond measures

A fair few municipalities asked residents for various bond approvals throughout the year, a total of 88 measures were on various ballots. Missouri had the most measures with 26, 77% approval, Illinois was second with a total of 23 but an approval rating of only 26%. Ohio had the lowest approval rating, 0%, with two bonds asked and none approved.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	6	4	60%
Colorado	5	2	71%
Florida	1	1	50%
Illinois	6	17	26%
Michigan	4	1	80%
Missouri	20	6	77%
Ohio	0	2	0%
Oregon	5	5	50%
Washington	3	0	100%
Totals:	50	38	56.8%

Hotel Tax

See also: List of 2010 hotel tax measures

There were 24 ballot measures that dealt with Hotel taxes for the year and half of those were on the ballot in Colorado which had a 50% approval rating. Ohio and Missouri both bad lower than 50% approval of their hotel tax measures.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	4	0	100%
Colorado	6	6	50%
Florida	2	0	100%
Missouri	1	3	25%
Ohio	0	1	0%
Oregon	1	0	100%
Totals:	14	10	58.3%

District Property Tax

See also: List of 2010 district property tax measures

District property taxes were the second most voted on issue on the local level in 2010. Washington had the most measures in their ballot with 105 total and an 80% approval rating. Colorado and Michigan also had a fair amount of measures with 27 and 24 proposed measures both also had high approval ratings. Only Florida, were both of the 2 measures asked were defeated, had a lower than 50% approval rating.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	1	1	50%
Colorado	20	7	74%
Florida	0	2	0%
Illinois	12	8	60%
Michigan	21	3	88%
Missouri	9	7	56%
Ohio	6	0	100%
Oregon	17	3	85%
Washington	84	21	80%
Totals:	170	52	76.6%

Election and Voting

See also: List of 2010 election and voting measures

There were 39 measures that dealt with different election or voting issues on the local level with Illinois and Washington having the most on their ballots with a total of 11 each. Though Illinois had all 11 of their measures approved Washington only had 7, 63% approval. Arizona and Wisconsin both had low approval, both of Arizona's measures were defeated and 6 of Wisconsin's 7 were defeated.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	0	2	0%
Colorado	2	0	100%
Illinois	11	0	100%
Michigan	3	0	100%
Missouri	1	1	50%
Oregon	1	0	100%
Washington	7	4	63%
Wisconsin	1	6	14%
Totals:	26	13	74.3%

Marijuana

See also: List of 2010 marijuana measures

Only 3 states had Marijuana on their local ballots, Colorado had by far the most due to the question to allow dispensaries in different locations. Both of Missouri's questions were defeated but Wisconsin's 1 measure was approved.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Colorado	20	12	63%
Missouri	0	2	0%
Wisconsin	1	0	100%
Totals:	21	14	60%

Charter Amendment

See also: List of 2010 charter amendments

There was a significant amount of charter amendments which were decided throughout the year, Florida had the largest amount of proposals with 179 total measures which led to 151 being approved or 84%. Colorado and Illinois had low approval ratings, Illinois had none of its 3 proposed measures approved and Colorado had 5 of its 7 defeated.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	23	4	85%
Colorado	2	5	29%
Florida	151	28	84%
Illinois	0	3	0%
Michigan	33	9	79%
Missouri	11	3	79%
Ohio	23	2	92%
Oregon	22	14	61%
Washington	3	0	100%
Totals:	268	68	79.8%

Annexation

See also: List of 2010 annexation measures

A large majority of those annexation questions which were asked gained approval from voters. Oregon had the most annexation measures with 29, all but 2 getting approved, 93% approval. Ohio and Illinois had the lowest approval with more getting defeated than approved by voters.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Colorado	1	1	50%
Illinois	1	2	33%
Missouri	20	1	95%
Ohio	0	1	0%
Oregon	27	2	93%
Washington	13	3	81%
Totals:	62	10	86.1%

Ballot Totals

See also: Local ballot measure elections in 2010

Michigan had the largest amount of ballot measures this year as reported on the site, 414 total, with an approval rating of 76%. Florida was second with 215 measures and an 82 percent approval. Ohio had 162 (though it should be noted that Ohio had by far the largest amount of measures but the sum was too great to cover in entirety on the site), with an overall approval. Washington also had over a hundred measures, 150, with an approval rating of 73 percent and Missouri had 155 total measures and an approval rating of 70 percent.

Illinois sticks out because they had more measures defeated than approved, they had 102 total measures with an approval rating of just 43 percent. Wisconsin also had a low approval rating, but not many Wisconsin measures made it on to the site, the number is larger for school measures.

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
Arizona	37	16	70%
Colorado	78	38	67%
Florida	177	38	82%
Illinois	48	64	43%
Michigan	307	97	76%
Missouri	108	47	70%
Ohio	132	30	81%
Oregon	81	33	71%
Washington	110	40	73%
Wisconsin	2	7	22%
Totals:	1,080	410	72.5%

See also

• Local ballot measure elections in 2010
  • Local measures by state
• School bond and tax elections in 2010