In an election appearing to be a red wave, conservative voters got their way on two of the three constitutional initiatives on the ballot this cycle.
CI-126, which would have introduced a nonpartisan top four advance primary, failed to garner enough support, with only 48.2 percent of counted ballots voting yes. Alaska, Washington, and California are the only states to have a similar system for statewide races. Alaska has this system, while Washington and California have top two advance primaries. Nebraska has a nonpartisan top two advance primary as well, but only for their state legislature. CI-127, which would have required that elections be won with a majority and not just a plurality, had even less support. Only 39% of voters supported this initiative. Requiring a majority would mean that if no candidate surpassed 50 percent, there would have to either be a run-off election, ranked choice voting, or some other measure. Currently, only Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi hold runoff elections in cases where no candidate surpasses 50 percent in the General Election. Alaska and Maine are the only two states with ranked choice voting.
CI-127, which enshrines the right to abortion in the Montana constitution, passed with 57.2 percent of ballots cast in support. Several states passed similar ballot measures this cycle, including many that voted for or are likely to go to President Trump. This includes Nevada, Missouri, and Arizona. Nebraska passed an initiative that prohibits abortions after the first trimester unless one of the three main exceptions applies. Florida failed to pass an abortion protection initiative, as they required a threshold of 60 percent support, which it did not meet. In Montana, the legislature will now be prohibited from regulating abortion before fetal viability and in any case in which the life of the mother is at risk.
