Maine will soon become the 22nd state to have an “extreme risk protection” gun law, also known as a “red flag law,” NBC News projects — part of a slew of state ballot measures voters around the country considered Tuesday, on issues from raising taxes on higher earners to parental rights and voting rules.
Maine voters passed a ballot question Tuesday that will allow people to petition courts to have firearms taken away from their family members if they are deemed to pose risks to themselves or others.
The ballot measure was opposed by a bipartisan group of state leaders, including Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and top Republicans in the state Legislature.
They pointed to a law already in effect in Maine, known as a “yellow flag law,” that allows members of law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily confiscate people’s firearms if they’re deemed to be dangers to themselves or others.
The yellow flag law already in effect also requires law enforcement officers to take people into protective custody and obtain behavioral health assessments before they can petition to confiscate firearms.
The new red flag law eliminates the need for a behavioral health assessment and allows family members to petition for firearm confiscation without consulting law enforcement officers.
Proponents of the ballot measure, including the leaders behind the state’s “Safe Schools, Safe Communities” initiative, have said their proposal ensures due process is protected because anyone seeking an extreme risk protection order must present sworn evidence in court and cannot make up evidence.
Opponents of the ballot measure, including Mills, have said the court process could be burdensome for family members and infringe on due process protections.
“If there is a potentially dangerous situation, I want the police involved as soon as possible because it’s their responsibility, not yours, to deal with dangerous people,” Mills told voters in September.
She also pointed to the number of successful court petitions — over 1,000 — that have gotten the go-ahead to confiscate firearms from people since the yellow flag law passed.
“Look, if I thought Question 2 were good public policy, I’d be the first to support it — but Maine’s current gun safety law is one of the most effective laws of its kind in the nation, carefully drafted to be constitutional. It has resulted in more than 1,100 court orders to remove weapons, far more compared to most other states that have so-called red flag laws,” Mills said. “Our Maine law is successfully saving lives every day, and that’s why I ask people to reject Question 2 at the ballot box.”
Four other New England states already have such laws: Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Maine Question 1
In a separate measure, voters in Maine rejected a ballot question that would have imposed sweeping changes to Maine’s election laws, NBC News projects, including instituting new voter ID laws and modifying existing laws governing absentee voting.
Democratic leaders including Mills spoke out in recent weeks against the ballot measure, saying it would have made it harder for Maine citizens to vote.
Mills posted photos on X earlier Tuesday of her voting and wrote: "If you’re an older Mainer or a single parent, someone with a disability, or someone with a busy schedule, Question 1 would only make it harder for you to cast your vote. That’s why I voted no on Question 1 today!"
Mills' opponent in next year's Democratic Senate primary, veteran Graham Platner, also opposed Question 1 in the weeks leading up to Election Day.
After the ballot measure was projected to have be defeated Tuesday night, he wrote on X, "This victory belongs to the thousands of volunteers, many of them with our campaign, who left it all on the field to save absentee voting in Maine."
Beyond the voter ID requirement, the ballot question, had it passed, would have made changes to absentee voting laws, including repealing a measure that allowed voters to drop off ballots for their immediate family members. The new provision would have also put an end to automatic absentee voting, which allows some voters to have absentee ballots mailed to them automatically each election cycle.
Another major change would have allowed municipalities just one absentee ballot drop box for future elections, instead of multiple drop boxes. Opponents of the ballot measure specifically pointed to that provision, saying it would have made it harder for Maine citizens living in rural areas to vote via absentee ballot.
“Our elections are already safe, secure and trustworthy. Let’s not make it harder for Maine people to exercise that important freedom,” Mills told her constituents in October when she called for them to reject the ballot question.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who faces a tough re-election fight next year, did not weigh in on the measure, telling voters at an event in Portland last month that she needed to “look at the specifics” of the measure and how it might affect elderly voters.
Texas ballot questions
Texas voters approved two state constitutional amendments in statewide votes, NBC News projects. The ballot measures amend Texas’ constitution to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in the state and to enshrine parental rights.
Proponents of the ballot measure say that parental rights are already guaranteed in Texas because of existing case law but that a constitutional amendment will ensure they are observed even if case law changes in the future.
GOP state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a sponsor of the measure, wrote as part of a bill analysis: “Over the last 100 years, federal case law has outlined specific areas in which parents have a constitutionally protected right to make decisions for their children. However, rights found in case law can change and disappear over time with the appointment of new judges. Placing the rights of parents in the Texas constitution would ensure the longevity of these rights for future generations.”
The measure approved Tuesday will add language to the constitution that says that “the people of Texas hereby affirm that a parent has the responsibility to nurture and protect the parent’s child and the corresponding fundamental right to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.”
Opponents, including education and reproductive rights groups, have called the measure “unnecessary” and “dangerous.” They say the constitutional language could later be used to justify restrictions on information children can access about mental health care and reproductive health care. Other opponents called the measure “vague.”
On the voting measure, even before its passage, only U.S. citizens could vote in Texas, leading opponents of the measure to call it “redundant,” while proponents said it would ensure local municipalities cannot allow noncitizens to vote in local elections in the future.
The measure’s sponsor in the Legislature, GOP state Sen. Brian Birdwell, pointed to other states, like California, Maryland, New York and Vermont, where noncitizen residents are authorized to vote in some local elections, like school board or city council elections.
“The right to vote is sacred, guaranteed by the United States Constitution. With other states allowing their local governments to implement a voting mechanism to allow non-citizens to vote, Texas should proactively amend the constitution to ensure that Texas municipalities cannot implement such policies should statute change,” Birdwell wrote as part of a bill analysis in the state Senate.
“In efforts to preserve the integrity of all elections, maintaining that only citizens have the right to vote will create additional safeguards to keep our Texas elections secure,” he added.
The measure won support from GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who told voters in on X this year that it “makes it crystal clear that if you are not a United States citizen, you’re not allowed to vote in Texas.”
Colorado Prop MM
NBC News projects that in Colorado, voters have approved a ballot proposition that will raise taxes on some of the state's highest earners — those making over $300,000 per year — to fund school meals for children.
The measure comes after voters in the state in 2022 voted to fund the Healthy School Meals for All program, which provides breakfast and lunch to every K-12 student in the state.
The program is not raising enough funds to cover the cost of providing free school meals, leading to Tuesday's ballot measure. The measure also includes a provision that directs any extra funds raised from the higher taxes to be used to contribute to the state's funding for SNAP, colloquially known as food stamps.
