By Joseph Ax
Nov 4 (Reuters) - While the battle for Congress captured most of the attention in Tuesday's US midterm elections, voters in more than three dozen states also decided around 150 ballot measures, from the rights of transgender athletes, to abortion access, to the world's first billionaire tax.
Here are results of the most notable measures:
TRANSGENDER ISSUES
Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington appeared likely to approve measures to bar transgender girls and women from playing
for all-female sports teams, returns showed.
Republican candidates sought to highlight the issue on the campaign trail, after political strategists credited President Donald Trump's attacks on transgender rights in 2024 with helping him to victory. Proponents of the limits say they protect girls and women, while critics say they discriminate against transgender students.
Arizona and Nebraska have passed laws that prohibit transgender girls and women from teams that align with their gender identity. But Arizona's referendum — which passed on Tuesday — expanded its law to apply to private schools and require all schools to ensure bathrooms and locker rooms are open only to athletes whose birth certificate matches the gender associated with the facility.
Voters approved Nebraska's measure, which will codify its ban into the state constitution, making it more difficult for lawmakers to reverse.
Washington's law would require any athlete seeking to join a girls' team to have their "biological sex" verified by a healthcare provider, a provision some opponents have said could result in unnecessary and invasive examinations. Early results showed a majority of voters supporting the measure.
Two states also voted on restricting gender-affirming care for minors. A ballot measure in Colorado would ban transition-related surgeries for minors. Early results showed a majority of voters supporting the measure.
In Missouri, where a law already prohibits gender-affirming medical treatment for children, voters defeated a proposal to add that ban to the state constitution.
ABORTION
Idaho voters rejected an initiative to establish the right to abortion up to fetal viability, which is generally considered to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy. The state has banned virtually all abortions since 2022, when the US Supreme Court eliminated a nationwide right.
In Missouri, two years after voters overturned the state's abortion ban, they rejected a ballot measure that would have reinstated it.
While the 2024 referendum was citizen-initiated, this year's ballot measure was brought forward by the Republican-controlled legislature. The measure also included a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
VOTING RIGHTS
California and Colorado voters rejected proposals that would have required voters to provide the last four digits of a government identification card, such as a Social Security number or a driver's license, when voting by mail. Nevada voters supported that measure.
Voters appeared to be rejecting an Arizona referendum that would require photo ID for mail-in ballots, based on incomplete vote counts on Wednesday. The measure's language does not specify how the referendum would have worked.
REDISTRICTING
Starting in 2025, Trump led a Republican push to draw new congressional maps in several states aimed at transforming Democratic-held seats into Republican-leaning districts. The resulting fight between the two parties appears likely to extend to 2028, and two notable ballot measures will shape the battlefield.
Missouri residents rejected a Republican-drawn map that would have broken up the state's only Democratic-leaning seat, after courts ruled it can only take effect with voter approval.
In Maryland, voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that will make it easier for lawmakers to draw new congressional districts, opening the door for the Democratic-controlled legislature to eliminate the state's only Republican-leaning seat in 2028.
MISCELLANEOUS
A California ballot measure, Proposition 40, which would create the world's first billionaire tax, imposing a one-time 5% wealth tax on the worldwide assets of each of the state's roughly 250 billionaires, appeared headed for defeat Wednesday morning.
Though taxing the ultrawealthy is broadly popular, especially among Democrats, the referendum has divided California Democrats. Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, opposed the measure, warning it could drive successful tech companies to other states.
In Montana, voters decided to bar corporations from spending money on elections, a novel legal strategy to sidestep the US Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United ruling in 2010. That decision found corporations and unions have a constitutional right to spend unlimited funds on campaigns independently of candidates, opening the door to super PACs and "dark money" groups that do not disclose their donors.
Early results show Alaskans narrowly deciding to retain the state's unusual "ranked-choice" election system, which asks voters to rank each candidate in order of preference. If no candidate reaches 50%, the candidate with the lowest total is dropped, and their supporters' votes are reallocated to the next choice on the list, until a winner emerges.
The system has received extra attention this year due to a competitive Senate race between Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, as well as another Republican candidate on the ballot also named Dan Sullivan. The New York Times reported that Peltola's aides worked with the campaign's lawyers and senior staff at Senate Democrats' campaign arm to recruit the other Dan Sullivan, a retired teacher. Reuters has not verified the report.
In Alabama, voters approved a ballot measure that would require schools to play the first stanza of the national anthem at least once a week.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Helen Coster; editing by Paul Thomasch, Alistair Bell and Nia Williams)
