Abortion was top ballot initiative, Californians said no to wealth tax for green initiative

Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure that attempted to end constitutional protections for abortion – one of several such measures on ballot across the country Tuesday night.

The final tally on the Kentucky initiative was concluded Wednesday morning, with abortion-rights advocates claiming victory.

In other ballot initiatives across the country, Californians appear to have overwhelmingly rejected a measure to legalize sports betting on computers and mobile devices. The tally was Yes: 16% No: 84%. However, the numbers are preliminary and subject to change, with mail-in ballots coming in until Nov. 15, according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper. 

The measure, officially known as Proposition 27, was promoted by sports betting operations FanDuel and DraftKings and opposed by many California tribes, the newspaper also reports.

Also in California, voters said no – 57.3-to-42.7% – to a measure to tax wealthy residents to pay for electric-vehicle infrastructure and more firefighters. 

Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed his own party on the measure.

Overnight, voters in Michigan and in Democrat-leaning California and Vermont also voted also enshrined abortion rights in their state constitution.

In Kentucky, the vote followed the state’s Republican-led legislature having imposed a near-total ban on abortions and putting the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.

Though the Republican lawmakers' amendment was defeated, the vote will have no practical impact on the right to an abortion if the state’s ban on the procedure survives a Supreme Court legal challenge, according to the Associated Press.

Such measures were put on state ballots following the Supreme Court's decision this past summer to overturn Roe v. Wade, which ended federal protection for abortions and handed individual states the authority to regulate the procedure.

The Kentucky ballot question on abortion asked voters whether they wanted to amend the constitution to say: “To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion,” the wire service also reports.

Massachusetts voters upheld Question 4 which upholds a drivers' license law for illegal immigrants. This law will remain in place and allow illegal immigrants to still obtain a drivers' license without having to show proof of residence in the United States. 

The law is set to go into place on July 1.