Voters Continue To Choose Abortion Rights When They’re Not Thwarted By Inflated Thresholds

Signs in favor of proposition 139, the right to abortion initiative, are displayed at the entrance of the Murphy-Wilmot Library in Tucson, Arizona, on October 16, 2024. As their race for the US presidency comes down ... Signs in favor of proposition 139, the right to abortion initiative, are displayed at the entrance of the Murphy-Wilmot Library in Tucson, Arizona, on October 16, 2024. As their race for the US presidency comes down to the wire, each major candidate has leaned heavily on a favorite theme -- abortion rights for Democrat Kamala Harris and border security for Republican Donald Trump. In Arizona, their ideological duel has reached a white-hot peak, with both topics the subject of fiercely debated ballot referendums. (Photo by Olivier Touron / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Seven of the 10 states with abortion on the ballot chose to protect the right Tuesday — and Florida would have too, if it wasn’t subject to a 60-vote supermajority threshold. 

Missouri became the first state to overturn a near-total abortion ban (while also voting in staunch anti-abortion Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)). 

Voters in New York, Maryland, Colorado, Arizona, Montana and Nevada voted resoundingly to enshrine the right in their state constitutions. 

And while a similar measure in Florida was defeated Tuesday, a majority voted for it. Well over half of voters in Florida — 57 percent with about 94 percent of votes tallied — supported the constitutional amendment, but Republican legislators had previously raised the threshold for citizen-initiated amendments to 60 percent, not a simple majority. A similar threshold would have thwarted abortion measures in other states, including Ohio, which approved its measure in 2023 by right around the same percent of the vote that Florida delivered on Tuesday.

Florida’s measure, known as Amendment 4, was also up against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who used taxpayer dollars and his agencies to run a ubiquitous disinformation campaign, claiming that the amendment would harm women. He also threatened television stations that ran ads favoring the amendment and used the Office of Election Crimes and Security to run a “voter fraud” investigation into petition signatures. Police officers actually showed up at people’s doors to ask for verification.

“These are petitions that were already approved, that were done properly,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told reporters at the time. “This police intimidation tactic is clearly intended to chill the democratic process.”

In Nebraska, which had dueling amendments, voters picked the restriction on any abortions after the first trimester (with narrow exceptions) by a bare 51 percent. South Dakota rejected its abortion rights amendment more emphatically, by 60 percent. These are the first states post-Dobbs to reject abortion rights amendments by a simple majority.

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  1. Voters in New York and Maryland voted resoundingly to enshrine the right in their state constitutions.

    Hey! Arizona too!

  2. I can’t believe my fellow Missourians are this 'effing stupid. We passed our Abortion Rights amendment, and then proceeded to elect, re-elect every 'effing Republican for state office.
    And since we have term limits in our state legislature the amount of damage they do every year never has blow back for them.

  3. Avatar for bryanb bryanb says:

    Take a look at a comparison of the Yes votes on the abortion initiatives vs. the votes for Harris. And then look at the No votes on the abortion initiatives and the votes for Trump. It appears Harris could have won AZ and NV if everyone who voted Yes also voted for Harris. And FL and MT would have been very much closer. Harris couldn’t seal the deal suficiently with those voting to enshrine abortion rights protections.

  4. My brain is having trouble with this framing, as it seems to put the blame on Harris, when I personally am putting it on the voters, refusing to accept the deal they were offered…

    Sigh… :roll_eyes:

  5. The abortion referenda gave voters the ability to vote to protect reproductive rights AND vote for Trump on the economy and immigration.

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