Happy Election Day…I guess. There aren't many candidates competing today about which a libertarian could get excited. But there are a few Election 2022 ballot measures that set our hearts aflutter—and a few others we're anxiously watching in hopes that they fail. So, let's dig in. The list below—by no means comprehensive—offers a glimpse at some of the especially good and especially bad ballot measures on Reason's radar.

DRUG LEGALIZATION

Marijuana legalization measures are on the ballot in five states—Arkansas (Issue 4), Maryland (Question 4), Missouri (Amendment 3), North Dakota (Measure 2), and South Dakota (Measure 27). Jacob Sullum offers a rundown of these recreational weed initiatives here (Sullum's post also details an Oklahoma initiative that ultimately failed to get on the ballot), while the Cato at Liberty blog homes in on the tax structures contained in each.

One state—Colorado—will vote on whether to decriminalize psychedelics. If Proposition 122 passes, Colorado will remove criminal penalties for noncommercial activity related to "natural medicine," which it defines to include the psychoactive components in shrooms as well as dimethyltryptamine (DMT, which is the active ingredient in ayahuasca), mescaline (which is the active ingredient in peyote), and ibogaine (derived from the iboga tree bark). More on Proposition 122 here.

ABORTION

Abortion-related initiatives are on the ballot in five states—California (Proposition 1), Kentucky (Amendment 2), Michigan (Proposal 3), Montana (LR-131), and Vermont (Proposal 5). Passage of the California, Michigan, or Vermont proposals would expand reproductive freedom; passage of the Kentucky proposal would restrict it. The Montana proposal is a weird one.

Proposition 1 would amend California's constitution to include a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include the "fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and the fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives."