It’s Not Just Congress That’s At Stake: Here Are Major Ballot Initiatives Voters Will Decide On In Midterms

Voters will cast ballots on several ballot initiatives addressing voter identification, abortion, data centers and other issues in the 2026 election cycle.

More than 140 total measures across 40 states plan to touch on some of the most hot-button issues in politics. Several states ranging from Virginia to California are asking voters to decide whether to amend their state constitutions on elections and social issues.

Voters in Idaho, Virginia and Missouri will decide whether to keep or amend their states’ abortion laws. Measures in Virginia and Nevada would enshrine abortion legalization in the states’ constitutions before the point of fetal viability, which happens around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Question 1 of Virginia’s ballot initiatives would also prevent any laws restricting “personal decisions” about prenatal care, birth control, or postpartum treatment, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. In January, Democratic Virginia state lawmakers advanced a constitutional amendment on abortion rights to appear on the November ballot.

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington issued a Sept. 12 letter urging Virginians to join the “Catholics Vote No” campaign and oppose Ballot Questions 1 and 2. The second initiative in Virginia would remove a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in the event that the Supreme Court overturned Obergefell v. Hodges, which deemed state bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

“[Ballot Question 1] threatens the health and safety of mothers and would allow for abortions targeting healthy babies all the way up to birth,” Burbidge’s letter said. “The amendment extends this so-called right even to minors. It would remove the role of parents concerning life-altering and irreversible decisions for their minor daughters.“

“The proposed amendment is extreme. It is unnecessary. And it is wrong,” the letter continues.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Democratic Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones expressed support for the two proposed amendments. Catholic parishes across the state, including the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, Virginia, have registered parishioners to vote as part of the “Catholics Say No” campaign.

There are over 693,000 registered Catholic voters in the Dioceses of Arlington and Richmond, according to the Virginia Catholic Conference.