Even though Republican candidates were largely defeated in Tuesday’s midterm elections, voters in multiple states did succeed in passing ballot measures bolstering the integrity of their elections.
On Tuesday, three states - Ohio, Nevada and North Carolina - passed ballot initiatives amending their constitutions to require voters to provide photographic proof of identity in order to cast a ballot. The North Carolina measure approved by voters extended the requirement of photographic evidence to mail-in ballots.
In the previous two-year period (2024-25), voters approved 10 state ballot initiatives requiring voters to provide proof of identity, while rejecting three. This calendar year, three such state measures failed and four passed.
In August, Oklahomans passed measure 846, a constitutional requirement for voters to provide proof of identity, as defined by the state legislature, when voting in any election in the state. Photo ID is the currently-defined proof of identity.
Thus, from 2024-26, voters have approved 13 of 19 state measures requiring voters to provide proof of identity at the polls.
Voter ID initiatives failed in California, Arizona and Colorado on Tuesday. Both California and Arizona are considered to be Red (Democrat-majority) states, while Arizona is known as a swing state (Purple).
Notably, all three ballot measures that failed included additional provisions. The ill-fated Arizona initiative included a constitutional amendment requiring citizenship to vote in state and local elections.
In Colorado, not only did the failed constitutional amendment require photo ID for in-person voting, it required provision of a voter identification number in all mail-in ballots.
And, in California, the Voter ID measure rejected would have created a list of registered voters in the state and provided requirements for state government administration of that list.
Regarding the citizenship issue, five states passed measures related to citizenship requirements to vote in state and local elections:
- Alaska.
- Arkansas.
- Kansas.
- South Dakota.
- West Virginia.
Arizona had the only voter citizenship-related measure that failed. As noted above, that measure also included a Voter ID requirement. Additionally, the Arizona Constitution currently contains a reference suggesting citizenship is a requirement to vote in state and local elections.
