While the fight for control of Congress dominates the headlines, voters in 39 states will also decide 145 statewide ballot measures on Tuesday, November 3 — questions that could rewrite state constitutions on voter ID, abortion, guns, marijuana, and transgender rights for years to come. According to Ballotpedia, the measures span seven major topics, and many of them will matter far more to daily life than who holds the gavel in Washington.
Beyond the marquee congressional races, the ballot itself is crowded. The National Conference of State Legislatures puts the total at more than 140 measures, most of them statewide. Some would change laws outright. Others would amend state constitutions, locking the result in place far beyond the reach of any single legislature. That is why both parties, advocacy groups, and millions of dollars in campaign spending have poured into fights that rarely make national television — but will shape how Americans vote, what rights they hold, and what their schools and police can do.
Voter ID Takes Center Stage
Election policy is the single largest category on the ballot this year, with 34 statewide measures, according to Ballotpedia. Six would require voters to show identification, and six more would specify that only United States citizens may vote in state and local elections.
In Arizona, Proposition 144 would amend the state constitution to require identification for mail voting, leaving the legislature to set the details of how voters prove who they are. It would also let Election Day voters have their ballots counted at their polling place, and bar foreign nationals from contributing money or anything of value to campaigns.
Nevada's Question 7 would add a photo ID requirement for in-person voting and an identification number requirement for mail ballots to the state constitution. Voters already approved the measure once, in 2024; a second yes vote on Tuesday would make it permanent constitutional law.
Ohio's Issue 3 would write a voter ID requirement into the state constitution. The legislature already passed a strict voter ID law in 2022, but a constitutional amendment would be far harder for a future legislature or court to overturn. It would also let lawmakers decide whether to require identification for mail-in voting.
Elsewhere, the election-policy fights are about how democracy itself is run. Alaska's Ballot Measure 2 would repeal the state's top-four ranked-choice voting system. Massachusetts Question 3 would replace party primaries with a top-two primary system. And measures in North Dakota and South Dakota would raise the bar for passing constitutional amendments to 60 percent of the vote — a change that would make future citizen-led amendments much harder to pass.
Abortion Rights, in Both Directions
Abortion is on the ballot in several states, and the measures cut in opposite directions — a reminder that the post-Roe landscape is still being drawn state by state.
In Nevada, Question 6 would amend the constitution to establish a right to abortion without interference from state or local governments, applying from the start of pregnancy until the fetus has a significant likelihood of surviving outside the womb, or when necessary to protect the pregnant patient's life or health.
Virginia's Question 1 would add a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom" to the state constitution's Bill of Rights, covering a spectrum from prenatal care to postpartum care, abortion, and miscarriage management — while still allowing the state to restrict abortions in the third trimester.
Missouri, by contrast, could go the other way. Under Amendment 3, voters have the chance to repeal the constitutional right to reproductive freedom they established in 2024. The repeal would prohibit abortions except in cases of medical emergency or incest, and those procedures would have to be completed within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Idaho's Proposition 1 would establish a right to abortion up to fetal viability and protect reproductive decision-making, while Ballotpedia counts 10 statewide measures touching abortion, sex, and gender policy in total.
Guns, Marijuana, and the Culture Ballot
Gun policy is also directly before voters. Arkansas's Issue 2 would expand the state constitution's gun provision, updating the right to bear arms into a right to "keep and" bear arms, with specific provisions on hunting and firearm parts, and language calling the right "a natural, fundamental, and individual right that shall not be infringed."
Massachusetts Question 9 asks voters whether to repeal a landmark 2024 gun control law that included a red-flag provision, a ban on ghost guns, changes to gun licensing, an expanded definition of a machine gun, and a ban on assault-style weapons. And in Idaho, voters will answer an advisory question on which firearm should become the state's official gun, choosing among six models — including handguns, rifles, and the famous "Gun That Won the West." The legislature would still need to pass a law to make the choice official.
On marijuana, Massachusetts Question 8 could effectively end recreational marijuana sales in the state, allowing only a small amount to be possessed by people age 21 or older. One poll cited by USA Today suggested six in 10 Massachusetts voters are expected to vote against the measure. Nebraska, meanwhile, is moving the other direction on gambling: Initiative 440 would authorize the legislature to make laws allowing online sports betting, and Initiative 441 would let the state gaming commission regulate it.
Transgender Athletes, Schools, and Language
Some of the most fiercely contested measures concern transgender athletes and school policy — the first statewide votes of their kind in several states.
Arizona's Proposition 318 would expand a ban on student-athletes assigned male at birth from joining girls' sports teams to private schools and athletic associations, and would bar private schools and athletic associations from allowing people to use restrooms or locker rooms not designated for their sex assigned at birth.
Colorado's Proposition 134 would require schools from elementary level through college to field male-only, female-only, or co-ed teams, while Proposition 135 would prevent health care professionals from performing surgery on minors intended to alter their sex characteristics.
Nebraska's Initiative Measure 442 would amend the state constitution to require public schools to designate male, female, and co-ed sports teams using what the measure calls "biological sex," and states that female teams "shall not be open to students of the male sex." Washington's Initiative Measure 638 would bar "biologically male students from competing with and against female students" in school sports, and require students to be evaluated by medical providers who sign off on a form before participating in female sports.
Schools feature in other measures too. Alabama's Statewide Amendment 3 would require local school boards to have schools start the day with the Pledge of Allegiance and authorize student-led prayer, while Statewide Amendment 4 asks whether the first stanza of "The Star-Spangled Banner" should be broadcast in schools once a week. And Idaho's House Joint Resolution 6 would enshrine English as the state's official language in the constitution, for use in official proceedings and documents except as required by federal law.
Campaign Finance and the Money Fight
Two measures take on the money in politics itself. California's Proposition 4 would allow state and local governments to create public financing systems for campaigns — though it does not create any specific program. California currently does not allow public financing of political campaigns, leaving candidates reliant on private donations.
Montana's Initiative 194 would prohibit corporate and nonprofit campaign contributions, with a novel penalty: an entity that contributes would lose key operating privileges in the state. USA Today describes it as a new strategy to counter the kind of campaign spending that has grown since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision.
What This Means
Taken together, the ballot measures tell a story that the congressional horse race does not. Even as voters decide which party controls Washington, they are also deciding — directly, without a legislature in the middle — the rules under which future elections will be held, the scope of reproductive rights, the reach of gun laws, and the boundaries of school policy.
That direct power is exactly why these measures are so hard-fought. A constitutional amendment passed on Tuesday can outlast governors, legislatures, and even court challenges. In states where abortion rights are written into the constitution, or where voter ID becomes a constitutional requirement, Tuesday's vote will set the terms of debate for a decade or more.
The measures also reveal where the country's culture wars have moved: out of Washington and into state constitutions. Sports teams, locker rooms, school mornings, and the language of official documents are all on the ballot — questions that legislatures once settled quietly are now being put to voters in plain language.
What Happens Next
Polls close on Tuesday evening, and results for the measures will roll in alongside the congressional races. Some outcomes will be clear quickly; others, particularly in states with large mail-ballot counts, may take days. Constitutional amendments that pass will generally take effect once results are certified, though legal challenges are likely in the most contested states — a pattern seen repeatedly in recent cycles.
For voters still deciding, the practical step is simple: check the full text of your state's measures before Tuesday, because a yes or no on a single line can change a constitution. And for the rest of the country, the results will offer the clearest read yet of where Americans actually stand — not on which party they prefer, but on the rules they want to live under.
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