Election 2016 Results: Food-Related Ballots

Along with choosing Donald Trump as the country’s next leader, millions of Americans also took stances on statewide and citywide issues affecting food policy and the food industry. Topics like minimum wage, grocery bag bans, and farming rights were on the table Election Day, and we’ve kept track of the results.

The night was victorious for supporters of raising minimum wages. Proposed minimum wage increases passed in each of the four states where it was on the ballot: Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and Washington. In Maine, the tipped minimum wage (a lower hourly wage for workers who get tips) will double to $5 in 2017 and continue to increase by $1 each year until it’s equal to the standard minimum wage and essentially eliminated. In South Dakota, voters decided not to lower the minimum wage for minors.

Meanwhile, in Indiana and Kansas, controversial amendments to make it a constitutional right to hunt and fish passed in both states. Prior to this election, right-to-hunt-and-fish laws existed in 19 states, passed by voters in 18 of them. These laws are often supported by gun rights activists who believe the laws help protect gun use. But voters in Oklahoma rejected a similar measure that pushed for the constitutional right to farm.

There were also city and county-wide votes on food issues. People in Flagstaff, Arizona one-upped the rest of the state, voting to increase city minimum wage to $15 by 2021. And Boulder, Colorado and the voters in the Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and Albany approved taxes on soda.

While the country as a whole may have been fixated on the presidential election, food industry policy was formed in many parts of the country. We rounded up the results for all the state measures — see which ballots passed and which ones didn’t by using the handy table below.

· All 2016 Election Coverage [E]