Voters in dozens of states will do more than choose candidates on Nov. 3. According to Ballotpedia, 164 statewide ballot measures have been certified across 40 states in 2026, and the count is now final for the year because no additional measures are eligible for the November ballot.

The numbers

Ballotpedia reported on Sept. 16 that 145 of the 164 measures are on the November ballot, while 19 were decided earlier in the year. At the same point in even-numbered years from 2014 to 2024, the average number of certified measures was 153, so 2026 is 11 above that decade average.

Three measures were certified in the two weeks before that report: a Michigan initiative on utility and government contractor campaign finance regulations, Missouri’s Proposition A, a referendum on the state’s congressional map, and Missouri’s Amendment 6, which concerns initiative and referendum powers. Ballotpedia also reported that the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 10 that a proposed amendment requiring a four-fifths vote to change legislative ballot initiatives violated the state’s single-subject rule, so it did not make the ballot.

Ballotpedia noted that courts can still remove measures or invalidate results. Over the past decade an average of one measure has been removed in October, though none has been removed in that month since 2016, when three were removed in Arkansas.

Abortion and social issues

OSV News reported on Sept. 4 that abortion-related measures are on the ballot in four states. Idaho, Nevada and Virginia have measures that would establish abortion as a state right. Missouri’s Amendment 3 would limit abortion and certain gender transition procedures for minors. A February Saint Louis University/YouGov poll of 900 likely Missouri voters found 47% supported legal abortion in the first 12 weeks and 43% opposed it, and 67% opposed gender transition procedures for minors, the report said.

Four states, Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado and Washington, have measures that would require student athletes to play on teams matching their biological sex, according to OSV News. A separate Colorado measure would prohibit certain gender reassignment procedures for minors. In Virginia, a measure would amend the state constitution to remove a ban on same-sex marriage; such bans have been unenforceable since the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the report noted.

Housing and taxes

Ballotpedia counts six housing-related measures in four states, the most in a single year in two decades, according to OSV News. California has three, and Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have one each. The report cited a second-quarter CNBC survey finding housing costs are the top political issue for voters aged 18 to 34.

California’s secretary of state certified 14 measures for the Nov. 3 ballot in a June 25 announcement: five placed by the Legislature and nine through the initiative process. They include a one-time tax of up to 5% on the assets of taxpayers and trusts worth more than $1 billion, an initiative to make 2012 high-earner tax rates permanent rather than expiring in 2031, a constitutional amendment on voter identification and citizenship verification, and $8.4 billion in bonds for immunology research. Others address environmental review, public campaign financing, recall of state officers and a veterans and affordable housing bond.

Elsewhere, Utah voters will consider raising the threshold for voter-approved new taxes to 60%, and North Dakota voters will decide on funding for free breakfast and lunch in public schools beginning in the 2027-28 school year, according to OSV News.

Elections and government rules

Several measures concern how elections and lawmaking work. Alaska voters will consider repealing the top-four ranked-choice voting system adopted in 2020, OSV News reported. Missouri’s Proposition A would let voters weigh in on the congressional map the Legislature passed in 2025, which the Missouri Supreme Court upheld on May 12, according to NCSL. California’s slate includes measures on recall elections and public campaign financing.

Positions of backers and opponents

Advocacy groups are active on both sides. Jamie Morris of the Missouri Catholic Conference said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Amendment 3. Sue Liebel of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said pro-life groups need engaged Republican leaders and well-funded coalitions to win these contests. OSV News noted that since the 2022 Dobbs decision, voters in most states with abortion measures in 2022, 2023 and 2024 backed abortion protections or rejected bans. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington urged Virginia Catholics to reject both Virginia measures.

What to watch

  • Any court rulings in the coming weeks that remove a measure or alter its wording.
  • Polling on high-profile questions such as Missouri’s Amendment 3 and California’s billionaire tax.
  • Turnout effects of measures on the same ballot as congressional and gubernatorial races.

Election officials in each state publish the full text of measures, and many states mail voter guides before Election Day.

Sources: Ballotpedia, OSV News, California Secretary of State, National Conference of State Legislatures.