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“This enables voters who feel their elected representatives are not prioritizing the issues that are important to them,” said Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, a nonprofit organization that helps progressive groups advance citizen-led ballot initiatives.

The opportunity window to use ballot measures to codify abortion rights is already closing, unless we take urgent action.

At a time when inflation and the economy are of concern to U.S. voters, Proposition 209 attracted national attention as a test case for other states, according to the Fairness Project, a national nonprofit that funds, organizes and advocates for ballot measures and supported Proposition 209.

"The instinct from conservative lawmakers to make it harder for their voters to decide on the core issues that matter to them most is fundamentally an assault on voting rights,” says Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, an organization that supports progressive ballot initiatives in red and purple states.

That backlash "really accelerated in 2021 and 2022," says Kelly Hall, executive director with The Fairness Project. That group claims success in 31 of the 33 left-leaning ballot initiatives it has supported since 2016.

“Ballot measures are at their very most effective when there is a major gulf between what voters want and what their elected officials are doing,” said Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, which helps campaigns for progressive ballot initiatives in red and purple states.

"The work that is taking place now is, how do you think strategically about how ballot measures fit into your broader set of priorities alongside litigation, direct care through abortion funds, legislative advocacy and trying to change the balance of power?" said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project.

Kelly Hall, the Fairness Project’s executive director, acknowledges that there may be “coattail effects” from ballot measures that benefit Democratic candidates in 2024. But she also makes clear that the priority is protecting abortion rights: “Our view is let’s not let the tail wag the dog,” she says.