Abortion, slavery and drugs, the other issues that will be voted on in the United States

Americans will elect members of the House of Representatives and the Senate and various state and local offices on Tuesday, but they will also decide on referendums on everything from abortion to the use of weapons, sports betting, and the legalization of psychedelic mushrooms.

Abortion

Abortion is a recurring theme of these referendums, but the year 2022 has been and is special.

Last June, the Supreme Court of Justice annulled the federal right to abortion, leaving freedom of action to the different states, which in many cases have prohibited it.

This year six popular consultations related to this topic are organized, a record, according to the Ballotpedia site.

One such referendum has already taken place in August, in Kansas, where access to abortion was reaffirmed.

In California, Michigan and Vermont, the proposed measures would enshrine the right to abortion in the state Constitution.

By contrast, in Kentucky, a text specifying that this right is not protected will be put to the vote.

Montana will decide whether a fetus “born alive” should legally be considered a person, “regardless of its stage of development,” and whether it should receive life-saving medical care even “after an attempted abortion,” a move widely criticized by professionals. Of the health.

Slavery

More unexpectedly the issue of slavery will also be on the ballot on Tuesday the 8th.

More than 150 years after slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment, voters in five states will weigh in on one exception still in effect: forced prison labor.

Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont, the first states to abolish slavery in 1777, will vote to ban “enforced servitude” as punishment for crimes or for the payment of debts and fines.

Since 2018, three states have banned forced prison labor, but some 20 still allow it. Activists hope to amend the 13th Amendment to completely eliminate this possibility.

drugs

Of the 50 US states, 19, plus the federal capital, Washington, have already legalized the recreational use of cannabis by adults, and the decriminalization movement is booming.

In November, five other states will decide on the issue. Four of them are conservatives, which shows that this debate goes beyond party affiliations.

Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North and South Dakota will vote on legalizing the recreational use of cannabis and its possession in limited quantities.

Colorado wants to go further: A proposal would decriminalize the use and possession of certain hallucinogenic mushrooms and other mind-altering substances, which would be considered “natural medicines.”

Voting and elections

Voting access and voting methods have become hot topics in America.

One of the most controversial measures will be put to a referendum in Arizona.

To “avoid any possible fraud”, the Republican legislators of that state intend to require an identity document with a photo to be able to vote and make it difficult to vote by mail.

The new rules would deter certain minorities, who generally lean Democratic, from going to the polls, the latter argue.

Nebraska could also tighten ID requirements to vote.

Michigan and Connecticut will in turn rule on early voting, while Nevada could change the primary system.

In Tennessee, an initiative seeks to eliminate the disqualification of religious leaders from being elected to local assemblies, a provision that is no longer in force but is still enshrined in the state Constitution.

And in Arkansas and Arizona, voters will cast their ballots in referendums intended to… limit referendums.

Sports bets

In California, the world of sports betting, until now very restricted, could prosper.

One proposal authorizes such gambling in person, particularly at casinos located on Native American reservations and at racetracks, while the other would authorize it only online.

A lot of money is at stake in this consultation involving a highly lucrative industry. Some 500 million dollars were invested in the respective campaigns by the supporters of both options, much more than in other referendums.

Armas

In Iowa and Oregon, electorates will address the sensitive issue of gun ownership, but they will go in opposite directions.

While in the first of these states it is intended to consecrate this right in the Constitution, to grant it greater protection, in the second a permit would be required to buy a weapon and chargers with more than 10 cartridges would be prohibited.

Climate

The climate, largely absent from the electoral debates in the United States, does not occupy a central place in the referendums either.

There are however exceptions. An initiative to tax the wealthiest in order to finance the transition to electric vehicles will be put to the vote in California.