Americans will not only go to the polls this Tuesday, November 8, to decide who will be their congressmen, senators and governors. In at least 36 states, voters will participate in referendums to decide on issues such as abortion, the recreational use of marijuana, the electoral system or the abolition of the last remnants of slavery on issues such as forced labor for prisoners. The results of these votes will serve to shape the laws of each State in terms of fundamental rights for its citizens. The range of issues that are consulted among voters is very wide – it includes everything from taxes to the possession of weapons. Among the most decisive are the following.
abortion
In five states, voters will decide on issues related to abortion rights. The issue raised on the ballot varies according to the legislative interest of each of them. In California, Michigan and Vermont, for example, citizens will determine whether they want to guarantee the right to abortion in law or in the state Constitution. While in Kentucky the consultation proposes to avoid the creation of laws that support that right or its financing with public funds. For its part, Montana will vote on whether health workers should be forced to provide medical care to a fetus born prematurely, no matter how far along it is in the pregnancy, and whether they should face jail time and fines for not doing so.
In June of this year, the US Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion throughout the country, a decision that was guaranteed in the 1973 decision of the same court in the Roe v. Wade case. This new scenario has left the responsibility of deciding on abortion to the States. Since then, state governments have undertaken the reinterpretation of their laws on the matter, as well as the drafting of new legislation. These five referendums are part of those reforms.
Dope
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Five states will also decide on the recreational use of marijuana: North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri and Maryland. The referendum directly asks whether the use of cannabis should be legal for adults in these States. The polls estimate that in Maryland the measure will be welcomed with a significant majority, while the other four states – with a more conservative tendency – could have results divided by just a few votes.
Until now, the use of marijuana in the United States is prohibited by federal law, however, since 2012 – when Colorado was the first state to legalize it – a good part of the states have undertaken the task of legislating on the matter. Some 37 States allow its consumption; 13 of them and the District of Columbia do so under the condition of medicinal use. On October 6, President Joe Biden pardoned all those convicted of marijuana possession under federal law.
Slavery
Slavery in the United States was abolished in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln and two years later that prohibition was included in the 13th amendment to the US Constitution. However, it was never excluded as punishment in American prisons. This November 8, the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont vote to eliminate from their local constitutions the remnants of slavery in the form of forced labor that persist in some prisons as punishment. The prison system in some corners of the country still puts convicts to work in tasks for which they do not receive financial compensation.
Electoral system
Since the controversial 2020 elections, in which former President Donald Trump questioned the operation of the US electoral system, some states have begun to review their voting structures through electoral colleges. Voting referendums will take place in seven states: Nevada, Ohio, Louisiana, Arizona, Nebraska, Michigan and Connecticut.
In Arizona and Nebraska, the consultation is focused on establishing stricter requirements to identify and vote; Connecticut Seeks Constitutional Amendment To Allow Early In-Person Voting; while in Nevada it is decided whether voters can order their preference for candidates in general elections on the ballot. The most sensitive cases are those of Ohio and Nevada, which seek to include in their local legislation the prohibition to prevent non-US citizens from participating in local elections.
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