Among the 2026 ballot measures, abortion-rights supporters won three of four abortion votes, according to NBC News calls. Virginia and Nevada wrote abortion rights into their constitutions, and Missouri refused to repeal its own. Idaho voters rejected a measure that would have ended the state’s near-total ban.
Arizona and Nebraska passed limits on transgender girls in school sports. Similar measures led in Colorado and Washington late Wednesday. California voters kept higher income taxes on top earners but were turning down a one-time tax on billionaires.
Voters decided 145 statewide measures on November 3, Ballotpedia counts, the most in a midterm year since 2018. They change state law on abortion, school sports, taxes, voter ID and congressional maps. Our main results story covers the House and Senate.
We count a measure as passed or rejected only where a news desk called it. The exception is a measure Ballotpedia marks decided with the count complete or nearly so. Everything else is “leading”, and figures are yes and no shares.
NBC means NBC News results, updated 11:19 p.m. ET Wednesday; AP means an Associated Press call reported by KTAR at 6:56 p.m. MST; BP means Ballotpedia, read at 11:40 p.m. ET.
We rechecked every “leading” row on NBC at about 12:15 a.m. ET Thursday, and none had changed or been called.
The results, state by state, late Wednesday
| State | Measure | What it does | Result (yes/no) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | Question 1 | Adds reproductive freedom to the constitution | Passed, 62.5/37.5 (NBC) |
| Nevada | Question 6 | Right to abortion before viability | Passed, 63.1/36.9 (NBC) |
| Missouri | Amendment 3 | Repeals 2024 abortion-rights amendment; bans most abortions, youth gender transition | Rejected, 44.5/55.5 (NBC) |
| Idaho | Prop 1 | Right to abortion before viability, in statute | Rejected, 44.1/55.9 (NBC) |
| Arizona | Prop 318 | School teams set by sex at birth; locker room limits | Passed, 58.9/41.1 (AP) |
| Nebraska | Measure 442 | Bars male students from female school teams, in constitution | Passed, 68/32 (BP) |
| Washington | I-638 | Bars students born male from girls’ school sports | Leading, 56.6/43.4 (NBC) |
| Colorado | Prop 134 | School and college teams split by biological sex | Leading, 52.6/47.4 (NBC) |
| Massachusetts | Question 8 | Repeals recreational marijuana sales | Rejected, 24.4/75.6 (NBC) |
| California | Prop 3 | Makes top-earner income tax rates permanent | Passed, 59/41 (BP; EdSource) |
| California | Prop 40 | One-time 5% tax on billionaires’ wealth | Leading no, 44.7/55.3 (NBC) |
| Washington | I-645 | Repeals tax on income over $1 million | Rejected, 42.1/57.9 (NBC) |
| Missouri | Prop A | Upholds 2025 congressional map | Rejected, 38.2/61.8 (NBC) |
| Maryland | Question 3 | Clears way for new congressional map | Passed, 60.1/39.9 (NBC) |
| North Dakota | Measure 2 | Free school breakfast and lunch | Rejected, 49/51 (BP) |
Abortion rights held in three states and lost in Idaho
Missouri’s 2024 abortion-rights amendment stays in place. Amendment 3 would have repealed it and made Missouri the first state with a constitutional abortion ban, The 19th reported.
It also bundled in a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which is already illegal in Missouri. “The number one piece of that is the trans issue,” Tom Estes, a Republican state Senate staffer working for the measure, told The 19th earlier this year.
Idaho went the other way. Proposition 1 would have legalized abortion until fetal viability. Its defeat leaves one of the country’s strictest bans in place. Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told The 19th that national groups “didn’t put resources into it early enough.”
Virginia also removed its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, with 57.5% backing Question 2. Question 3, which restores voting rights to people with felony convictions on release, passed with 56.6%.
Trans athlete limits passed in Arizona and Nebraska
Neither passing measure starts from scratch. Nebraska already barred transgender athletes from girls’ teams by statute, The 19th’s Brooke Migdon reported. Measure 442 moves that rule into the state constitution.
Arizona’s Prop 318, referred by the Legislature, revives a 2022 law that a federal appeals court blocked in 2024. “Sports designations must be clear and grounded in basic fairness,” its sponsor, Republican state Rep. Selina Bliss, said in December.
The Associated Press called Prop 318 by Wednesday evening, KTAR reported. AP also called Props 316, 317 and 319, on food taxes, drug cartels and traffic cameras. AP had not called Prop 144, the state’s voter ID and citizenship package, which trailed 46.8% to 53.2%.
Under Washington’s Initiative 638, a doctor would verify a girl’s sex before she could play K-12 sports, The 19th reported. Colorado’s Prop 135, a ban on gender-related surgery for minors, led 52.1% to 47.9% without a call.
California taxed top earners again but balked at billionaires
California’s two tax measures split the way the money did. Prop 3 renews the 2012 income tax surcharge on the top 2% of earners. It was due to expire in 2031.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates it raises $5 billion to $15 billion a year, EdSource’s John Fensterwald reported. “Voters chose to protect vital funding for California public schools,” California Teachers Association President David Goldberg said.
Prop 40 would charge billionaires living in the state on January 1, 2026, a one-time 5% tax on their net worth. Ninety percent of the money would go to health care, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Opponents ran a $300 million media campaign, EdSource reported, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin gave $102 million to fight it.
Prop 40 faces a second hurdle even if late ballots move toward it. Opponents put Props 41 and 42 on the ballot to block it, and whichever gets more votes prevails, EdSource explains. Prop 42, which bans new taxes on wealth, led 54% to 46% on NBC’s count. That gives it more yes votes than Prop 40.
Ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive by November 10. The Supreme Court declined to hold back some of those mail ballots.
In Washington, voters kept the new tax on household income over $1 million by rejecting Initiative 645.
Maps, voter ID and the ballot process itself
Redistricting fights reached voters directly. Missouri rejected the Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map. Maryland approved a Democratic-backed amendment allowing a congressional redraw, State Court Report noted.
Citizenship-only voting measures passed in Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia, according to NBC. Voter ID requirements passed in Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. California’s Prop 39 on voter ID trailed 41.2% to 58.8%.
Voters also refused to make ballot measures harder to pass. Proposals for a 60% threshold failed in North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah, Ballotpedia shows. Missouri went the other way with Amendment 6. Lawmakers there now need 80% of both chambers, plus voters, to change a voter-approved initiative.
On drugs, Massachusetts kept legal marijuana sales. Idaho voters rejected HJR 4, which would have let only the Legislature legalize marijuana, 66% to 34%. Locally, voters went against data centers in 37 of 38 counted measures, by our tally of data center ballot measures.
The next fixed date is November 10, California’s deadline for late-arriving mail ballots, which could settle Prop 40. Washington’s Initiative 638 and Colorado’s Props 134 and 135 were still uncalled late Wednesday.