Second ballot measure disqualified this year

Welcome to the Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, Brew.

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Second ballot measure disqualified this year
2. 50 states in 25 days—Virginia and Vermont
3. Incumbent Henry Cuellar (D), Jay Furman (R), and Bailey Cole (L) are running in the general election in Texas’ 28th Congressional District

Second ballot measure disqualified this year

On Sept. 26, the Utah Supreme Court removed Amendment D, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, from the Nov. 5 ballot—the second measure a state court has removed from the ballot this year.

The court ruled that the ballot language for Amendment D, which addressed legislative alterations of voter-approved initiatives, was misleading, and publication deadlines were missed. “The Legislature did not cause the amendment to be published in newspapers throughout the state for two months, and the description that will appear on the ballot does not submit the amendment to voters ‘with such clarity as to enable voters to express their will.’”

State courts can still take measures off the ballot even after they have been certified and ballots have been printed. Lawsuits against ballot measures are common and often result in several being disqualified after certification during each election cycle.

Since 2014, state courts removed or disqualified 16 state ballot measures after officials certified them to appear on the ballot. An average of 2.4 measures were disqualified due to court rulings in each even-numbered election year from 2014 to 2022. As of Sept. 26, courts have disqualified two ballot measures certified for this year’s general election.

In addition to the Utah measure, the California Supreme Court ruled on June 20 that the Two-Thirds Legislative Vote and Voter Approval for New or Increased Taxes Initiative amounted to a revision of the state constitution and could not go before voters. Justice Goodwin Liu wrote that “because [the initiative] would substantially alter our basic plan of government, the proposal cannot be enacted by initiative.”

Article 18 of the California Constitution says that ballot initiatives can amend the state constitution. However, constitutional revisions require a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber or a vote of delegates at a constitutional convention and voter approval. The California Supreme Court has defined constitutional revisions as changes that alter the basic governmental framework and determined that initiatives cannot make revisions.

There are lawsuits against ballot measures in other states that could result in them being invalidated before the election, including Arizona Proposition 140, Arkansas Issue 2, Nebraska Initiative 437 and Initiative 438, and Utah Amendment A.

Since 2014, eight (50%) of the 16 ballot measures were in Arkansas. Two were removed in both Arizona and California, while one each was disqualified in Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Eleven (69%) were citizen initiatives, and the other five were legislative referrals. Six (38%) were removed due to issues with signatures. Five (31%) were removed based on state constitutional issues, such as violating single-subject or separate-vote requirements. Five (31%) were removed on account of ballot language issues.

When courts rule against measures after ballots have been printed, voters still see the questions on the ballot, but they’re null or void. From 2014 to 2023, votes were counted for ballot measures in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, and the totals were released to the public after courts had ruled they were invalid. . Both were pending appeals to their respective state supreme courts, which could have reversed the decisions (neither did in this case).

Courts can also strike down ballot measures after voters approve them. In 2022, for example, voters approved Missouri Amendment 4, and the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the ballot language for the amendment was misleading on May 1, 2024. In 2020, voters approved Arizona Proposition 208 and South Dakota Constitutional Amendment A, which courts later struck down and rendered null.

50 states in 25 days—Virginia and Vermont

Election Day is fast approaching. Long-time Brew readers will remember our 50 states in 50 days and 50 states in 25 days series from previous election years. Yesterday, we kicked off this year’s series with a look at what’s on the ballot in Minnesota and South Dakota. With 24 business days between now and the final Friday before the election, let’s continue digging into what voters across the country can expect to see on their ballots. Today, we’re looking at Virginia and Vermont.

Virginia

Let’s start with a look at some key dates and deadlines in Old Dominion.

• The deadline for registering in person, by mail, or online is Oct. 15. Early voting began Sept. 20 and ends on Nov. 2.
• All polls open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Everyone who is in line when the polls close must be allowed to vote. Voters can find polling locations here.

Virginia voters will decide elections for Congress and municipal offices, and will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment.

• Six presidential candidates qualified for the ballot in Virginia: Kamala Harris (D), Donald Trump (R), Jill Stein (G), Chase Oliver (L), Claudia De La Cruz (I), and Cornel West (I).
• Voters will elect one U.S. Senator and eleven U.S. Representatives. Fifty-three candidates are running for Virginia’s 11 U.S. House districts, including 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans. The 7th and 10th Congressional Districts are open. Democrats currently represent six House districts and Republicans represent five. Both of Virginia’s U.S. Senators are Democrats.
• Four school districts within Ballotpedia’s coverage scope are holding school board elections: Chesapeake Public Schools, Norfolk Public Schools, Richmond City Public Schools, and Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Municipal elections are scheduled in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Richmond, and Virginia Beach. Ballotpedia’s coverage includes all school districts in the 100 largest cities by population and the 200 largest school districts by student enrollment.
• The Virginia General Assembly referred one constitutional amendment to the ballot. The Virginia Property Tax Exemption for Veterans and Surviving Spouses Amendment would amend language in the Virginia Constitution regarding property tax exemptions for veterans and surviving spouses to say “died in the line of duty”rather “than killed in action.”
• Virginia holds elections for state executive and state legislative offices in odd years, meaning none of these offices are up for election this year.

Vermont

Next, let’s take a look at the Green Mountain State.

• Voters can register in person, by mail, and online up to Election Day. Early voting started Sept. 21 and ends Nov. 4.
• In Vermont, all polls must open by 10 a.m. All polls close at 7 p.m. Everyone who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Voters can search for polling locations here.

Now, let’s take a look at what voters can expect to see on their ballots this Fall.

• Seven presidential candidates qualified for the ballot in Vermont: Kamala Harris (D), Donald Trump (R), Chase Oliver (L), Claudia De La Cruz (I), Cornel West (I), Rachele Fruit (Socialist Workers Party), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (We the People).
• Voters will elect one U.S. Senator and one candidate to serve in the U.S. House from the state’s one at-large U.S. House district. A Democrat currently represents Vermont’s single U.S. House district. Vermont has one Democratic and one independent Senator. The only time the district was open in the last 10 years was 2022.
• All 180 seats in the Vermont Legislature—30 in the Senate and 150 in the House—are up for election. Vermont has had a divided state government since 2017 with Democrats controlling both chambers of the Legislature alongside a Republican governor. Democrats have a 107-member majority in the House and control 21 seats in the Senate.
• Six state executive offices are up for election in Vermont this year: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, and treasurer.

Want to learn more about the elections you’ll be voting in this year? Click here to use our Sample Ballot Lookup tool!

The information above is just a small snippet of the detailed information on Ballotpedia for each state. You can check out our deep dive into Virginia’s 2024 elections here and Vermont’s 2024 elections here.

Also, make sure to check back to our hub page, linked below, for future installments of the series.

Incumbent Henry Cuellar (D), Jay Furman (R), and Bailey Cole (L) are running in the general election in Texas’ 28th Congressional District

With 37 days to go until the Fall election, we’ll be bringing you coverage of the most compelling elections — the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.

Today, we’re looking at the general election for Texas’ 28th Congressional District, where incumbent Henry Cuellar (D) will face Jay Furman (R) and Bailey Cole (L).

The election is taking place after Cuellar’s indictment on charges of bribery, money laundering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The Department of Justice charged Cuellar and his wife with 14 criminal counts on May 3, 2024. The indictment stated the couple had accepted money from a Mexican bank and from Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company in exchange for official acts Cuellar carried out as a member of Congress.

In a statement following the indictment, Cuellar said he had done nothing illegal: “Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas…Before I took action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm.” Click here for more on the indictment.

Cuellar said he is one of the most bipartisan member of Congress and that his “principles are based on the belief that education, family values and hard work should open doors to new opportunities for all Americans.” Cuellar has differed with House Democrats on the issue of abortion, saying abortion policy “should be left up to the states.”

Furman, a U.S. Navy veteran, said he is running because he has been “shocked by our fake borders, lost freedoms, and sky-rocketing prices…bad policies causing problems that are clear and present dangers to South Texan’s safety, freedom, and survival.”

A Democrat has represented the 28th district since it was created following the 1990 census. In the 2022 election, Cuellar defeated Cassy Garcia (R) 56.7% to 43.3%. As of Sept. 18, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with three rating the district Likely Democratic and one rating it Lean Democratic.

Based on second-quarter reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Cuellar has raised $2.1 million and spent $1.8 million and Furman has raised $200,000 and spent $200,000. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.

All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies. So far this year, 45 members of the U.S. House have announced they were not running for re-election.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 56.7%-43.3%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 52.9%-45.9%.