These are potential game-changing issues to watch this Election Day in different states

There’s no Presidential race or Senate seats up for grabs, but the 2021 election has a number of issues across the country that could have potentially important policy implications.

Here are some of themes to watch for Tuesday’s voting:

1. Police Reform

According to Ballotpedia, voters in Albany, New York; Austin, Bellingham, Washington; Denver, Minneapolis, and Cleveland will decide police policy measures. Perhaps most notable is in Minneapolis where voters will decide whether to erase their police department from the Minneapolis charter and create a new Department of Public Safety focused on mental health, civilian wellbeing and social services. 

The vote comes more than a year after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and continued frustration over a lack of progress in department reform. 

In Albany, New York the ballot initiative could change the way that police misconduct cases are handled. In Austin, voting for Prop A would dramatically increase policing and in Cleveland, voting yes for Issue 24 would give the final decision on police policies and officer discipline in the hands of a civilian-led board and commission. The commission would be appointed by the mayor and city council and ultimately approved by the council.

2. School Boards

In what were once quiet local elections, school boards have become a flashpoint of culture wars. School boards across the country will elect new members today which could have an effect on policies over equity issues, what’s taught in schools and much more. In Virginia, one suburban school board became a tipping point in the state’s high-profile governor’s race.

3. Reparations

In Detroit: A ballot question asks if the Detroit City Council should create a reparations task force. The task force would “make recommendations for housing and economic development programs that address historical discrimination against the Black community in Detroit”.

There’s a similar ballot measure in Greenbelt, Maryland, a community outside of Washington D.C. Voters there will decide whether or not to create a 21-person commission to review and discuss reparations for Black and Native American residents.

Elections 2021: Voters head to polls with key gubernatorial and mayoral races on the line

4. Gambling

New Jersey voters will be asked if they want to expand sports betting to include allowing gambling on college games. College sports were excluded from the 2011 referendum measure that voters approved to add sports betting because of concerns over game fixing, like in the infamous 1978 Boston College point-shaving scandal. In a September poll only 25 percent of voters supported the measure, according to NorthJersey.com.