Shoplifting, Mass Transit, Flag Design, a Dying Mall: What Else We’re Voting On Today

In case voting for president, senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives weren't enough for you, there are also hundreds of local races to keep track of. Some are state initiatives that align with national political divisions, most of which concern abortion rights, the decriminalization of marijuana or psychedelics, and the minimum wage. For the completists, Bolts Mag has a superb guide to more than 500 races.

In the nation's biggest cities, meanwhile, voters will determine the fate of mayors, sheriffs, criminal justice reform, regional mass-transit projects, school governance, and real-estate development—contests that don't always break down neatly along party lines.

Here's what to look out for:

School Policy Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson squeaked into power in a runoff election last spring, when voters chose the former teacher and union organizer by 15,000 votes. Since then, he's faced a mutiny on the Chicago school board over whether the district should take out a high-interest loan to cover a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union, for which Johnson was an organizer. Coincidentally, on Tuesday, Chicagoans have their first chance to elect 10 members of the school board, following a change in state law. The vote will be a test for Johnson, the most left-wing big-city mayor since Bill de Blasio, and a referendum on the union.

Mass Transit Atlanta, Columbus, Nashville, and Phoenix are some of the cities where voters have the option to raise the sales tax to fund mass-transit projects. In Georgia, the penny tax increases are on the ballot in Cobb and Gwinnett counties, which make up Atlanta's prosperous northern suburbs, and would commit more than $20 billion to bus rapid transit and other transportation infrastructure if approved. The opposition is made up of antitax groups who say Atlantans prefer their cars, and they succeeded in defeating a similar proposal in Gwinnett in 2020.

A smaller initiative is on the ballot in Nashville, where advocates will try to improve on an effort to raise money at the ballot box for mass transit in 2018, which failed by a nearly 2-to-1 margin . In spite of those setbacks, voters in other car-centric cities, like Austin and Los Angeles, have used plebiscites to back mass transit in the past. The question is: Do voters in these sprawling cities still think mass transit is worth funding in a postpandemic landscape of remote work and lower ridership?

Open Streets Every two years, East Coasters get to have a laugh at the Bible-length ballots in California, where the work of lawmaking seems to have been entirely delegated to voters on Election Day. A good example of this was how, in 2022, San Francisco had not one but two ballot measures to determine whether a park road should remain closed to cars . Well, it worked, so those crazy pedestrians and bike riders are back with another citywide referendum on whether they should turn a different street—two miles of the oceanfront Great Highway—into a permanent linear park. Politicians have generally been happy to let cars take back the space they lost during the pandemic, but voters may have more guts.

The Post-COVID City Also in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed (a centrist by SF standards) is in a tough reelection campaign, with challengers from her left and right. The city's voters, the Chronicle says, have grown "​​dissatisfied amid intertwined crises of drug addiction, property crime, homelessness and an economic decline downtown." Tough job, digging a city out of COVID. Mayors in San Diego, Austin, and Salt Lake City are also up for reelection, while Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faces a recall vote .

Portland, Oregon Portland is similar to San Francisco in that nobody likes the mayor —but he's not running for reelection. Instead, voters must pick between 19 other candidates for mayor! And 92 candidates for 12 seats on the City Council! Shovel, please . Thank God for ranked choice voting.

Law and Order Many of these races hinge on post-COVID perceptions of violent crime, which was a big problem in 2021 and 2022 but has since receded, and disorder in the form of homelessness and drug use, which remains a daunting problem in many cities.

A deputy of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio is running for sheriff in Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, where voters can also support a statewide initiative that would allow homeowners to withhold property taxes if their cities do not sweep homeless encampments.

Sheriff races in Harris County (Houston); Charleston County, South Carolina; and Cobb and Gwinnett counties, in Georgia, hinge on the question of whether local law enforcement should collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In Los Angeles County, polls suggest that progressive District Attorney George Gascón is trailing in his reelection campaign to a former Republican who says the incumbent is "soft on crime." California will also be voting on a state referendum for harsher sentencing in shoplifting and drug cases; major backers include Walmart, Home Depot, and Target.

Then there's one race that goes against the grain: Baltimore is voting on mayoral control of the police force , a progressive policy priority nine years after Freddie Gray was killed in the back of a police van.

California will once again vote on whether to allow cities to institute rent control. Similar proposals failed by double digits in 2018 and 2020. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Charlotte, and New Orleans are some of the cities that could allocate public money for the construction of affordable housing.

In Baltimore, meanwhile, Question F gives voters the option to rezone the city's Inner Harbor, removing deed restrictions on 4.5 acres of parkland and allowing the fading Harborplace mall to be redeveloped as a mixed-use area. Mayor Brandon Scott is in favor; opponents say it's a land grab.