Voters are about to determine whether their states should legalize cannabis, set abortion limits, allow sports betting, tax millionaires, and more.
The questions at the bottom of ballots can easily be overshadowed by top-of-the-ticket races and candidate attack ads. This year, though, an anti-abortion proposal in Kansas demonstrated how potent such initiatives can be because of their impact on lives and their potential to drive voter engagement.
“We are seeing in real time in 2022 just how ballot measures are peaking voter turnout,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, which backs citizen initiatives across the US.
Of the 129 measures across 36 states, the hands-down money leader is in California, where fundraising by the committees for and against proposals to legalize sports betting at tribal casinos and on mobile devices has topped the half-billion dollar mark.
Broadcast and online advertising on those races has topped $162 million, according to the tracking firm AdImpact—dwarfing the $18 million spent on ads about another ballot proposal that suggests taxing the rich and dedicating the revenue to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
So in a sense West Coast TV stations already are ballot-question winners. Here are the issues we’re watching. — Tiffany Stecker
States to Watch: Alaska, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont
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