The measures were spread out across 38 different issues, the most prevalent of which, taxes, accounted for over 20% of the total. Other notable categories included election policy and redistricting, gambling, marijuana, bond issues, law enforcement and trials, healthcare and Medicaid expansion, as well as budgets and spending. Elections policy was close behind taxes in importance with 18 measures across 14 states. Marijuana was only on the ballot in 4 different states but was approved in all 4.
Overall, the presence of statewide measures on ballots has been decreasing over the past decade. This year’s 129 measures fall well short of the 172 average typically found in even numbered years since 2010. In fact, this is the lowest number found on the ballot since at least 1980. Although some experts attribute the Covid-19 pandemic to the historically low number, they still find the number of statewide measures to make it to the ballot to be trending downwards. The most recent high point was all the way back in 1998, when there was a total of 272.
Another reason for the low number of statewide measures to make it to the ballot could be the severe increase in cost per required signature. The average in 2020 was $8.09 per signature, a 24% increase from the 2018 average of $6.52, and nearly doubling the $4.70 average cost that could be found in 2010. The cost per required signature of successful petition drives ranged from $1.30 in Missouri to $24.20 in Montana. Due to the significant increase in costs for these petition drives, many campaigns are choosing to forego the typical expensive collection methods, and are instead focusing on increasing confidence in the signatures they collect through volunteers, via the use of petition validation technology. Either way, the hope is the number of statewide ballot measures will begin to trend upwards once more come 2022
