Tuesday’s election saw significant laws and regulations passed on the state level through various ballot measures.
Election workers review ballots at the Denver Elections Division in Denver on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.
Chet Strange/AP
Here are some of the major initiatives from this year’s election.
Immigration, voting rights
It is already against the law for those in the country illegally to register to vote and cast a ballot in federal and state elections.
However, some states proposed ballot measures that would make it illegal for undocumented immigrants to vote on the state or local level.
Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin voters all passed measures enacting such a ban.
People vote at a polling station at Addison Town Hall in Allenton, Wisconsin, on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.
Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images
Arizona voters passed a measure that changed immigration laws to give local officers the power to arrest migrants in the country illegally and for state judges to deport them.
Ranked choice voting
Voters in the District of Columbia approved a ballot measure that would change local elections to a ranked choice voting method, in which voters rank candidates on the ballot and the candidate with the most No. 1 rankings wins.
Votes are tabulated on Election Day at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nov. 5, 2024.
Allison Dinner/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Voters in Nevada, South Dakota, Missouri and Oregon rejected changing to ranked choice. While Colorado was still counting votes, over 1.2 million voters — 54% of the total as Wednesday afternoon — voted no on an ranked choice ballot measure for their elections.
Idaho voters rejected a ballot measure that would have overturned a 2023 state law that banned ranked choice voting for general elections.
Other initiatives
Voters in Nevada also passed a measure that mandated a voter ID requirement at elections.
A person enters into a temporary voting site located in a tent due to damages caused by Hurricane Helene, on Election Day during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, Nov. 5, 2024.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters
South Dakota, North Dakota and Florida voters rejected measures that would have legalized recreational marijuana for adults.