U.S. voters back legal marijuana, $15 minimum wage, block abortion ban
By Sim Sim Wissgott
A member of the Pinellas County canvassing board processes ballots on election day in Largo, Florida, U.S. November 3, 2020. /Reuters

A member of the Pinellas County canvassing board processes ballots on election day in Largo, Florida, U.S. November 3, 2020. /Reuters

U.S. voters pushed to legalize marijuana, blocked a ban on abortion and took steps to atone for the country's checkered past, even as most eyes were focused on the presidential race. 

Four more U.S. states will legalize marijuana, after voters backed ballot initiatives in their favor on Tuesday.   

New Jersey, Arizona and Montana will join just 11 other states plus the District of Columbia in allowing recreational use of the drug, while South Dakota scored a rare double, going from a state that did not allow any consumption of marijuana to one where it will soon be legal for both medical and recreational purposes. 

What ballot initiatives are U.S. voters voting on?

The legalization of marijuana has seen major momentum since Colorado and Washington became the first two states to allow it for recreational purposes in 2012. 

Mississippi also approved use of the drug for people with debilitating medical conditions.

Meanwhile, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin mushrooms – better known as magic mushrooms – for mental health therapy, according to a New York Times tally of votes. 

Another Oregon initiative that passed will decriminalize possession of certain drugs in small amounts, as well as set up a state-funded drug addiction treatment and recovery program – the first state to do this. 

Some 120 initiatives were on ballots in 32 states, with voting rights, abortion and racial justice among some of the thornier issues for consideration.   

Voters in Louisiana came out overwhelmingly in favor of adding language to their state constitution that would make clear that it does not protect the right to abortion. In Colorado however, they blocked an attempt to ban abortions after 22 weeks.  

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In Rhode Island, votes in favor of shortening the state's name in order to remove a reference to its slave-owning past were slightly in the lead. Although generally referred to as Rhode Island, its official name is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Amid a nationwide debate over racial justice in light of the Black Lives Matter protests, the state's governor removed the term "Providence Plantations" from official documents earlier this year. 

Mississippi overwhelmingly backed a new flag after the previous one, which featured the controversial Confederate battle flag, long associated with slavery and racism, was retired in June. Nebraska and Utah will also scrap obsolete but still existing laws from their constitutions that allowed slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment.

Meanwhile, in Florida, voters backed a measure that will raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026 – more than twice the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. This will put it in line with states like California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, which are already moving towards $15 an hour.  

And in a move to expand voting rights, California, which had more initiatives on its ballot than any other state (12), will now allow felons who are still on parole to vote before completing their sentence.