A bipartisan group of senators plans to attach significant marijuana legislation to "must-pass" year-end bills, Axios has learned.

The big picture: The group, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), has the Justice Department's blessing for legislation letting cannabis companies access banking institutions, and creating grants for state expungement of past marijuana convictions.

In an email reviewed by Axios, the Justice Department said it would be able to implement the revised legislation.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R- S.C., joined 'Kennedy' to discuss developments in bipartisan cannabis reform laws at the federal level.

Voters on Tuesday approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in Maryland and Missouri while rejecting similar measures in Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Meanwhile, voters in five Texas cities passed ballot measures that bar local police from issuing citations or making arrests for low-level marijuana possession.

Voters in four states have approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, while those in a fifth state rejected a flawed version on the question.

The measures approved Tuesday could curtail the use of prison labor in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont.

Voters in California, Vermont and Michigan on Tuesday approved ballot measures enshrining abortion rights into their state constitutions, while those in the traditionally red states of Montana and Kentucky rejected measures that would have restricted access to reproductive care.

The votes signal support for abortion rights after the Supreme Court in June overturned the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to the procedure.

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

In addition to who represents them in Congress and in state legislatures, voters on Tuesday will weigh in directly on issues including abortion, marijuana and vaping.

Here are the measures we’re watching on Tuesday:

Abortion

Recreational marijuana could be legal in half the country if the handful of states with cannabis measures on ballots this November pass them.

Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota have measures on their ballots this fall for voters to consider legalizing recreational marijuana. They would join 19 states and the District of Columbia with recreational cannabis.

Voters in California, Michigan, Vermont, Kentucky, and Montana will weigh in on ballot measures this November deciding on the future of abortion access in their states.

All six states have proposed ballot initiatives that will either codify or restrict abortion rights, an increasingly galvanizing issue following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June, eliminating the federal right to the procedure.

Filling out a ballot stuffed with granular, detailed policy measures can be enough to make a voter appreciate representative democracy, in which someone else is elected to make these decisions on your behalf.

Some of the issues voters will have to decipher this year: Should circuit court judges in Howard County, Maryland, be required to serve as judges in the Orphans’ Court? What requirements should California have for kidney dialysis clinics? Quick — what do you say to expanding a Georgia agricultural tax exemption to cover, among other things, dairy products and eggs?