10TOESDown · Election 2026
Special Report · Nationwide
The 2026 Voter's Guide for Sex Workers and Allies
What is on the statewide ballot on Nov. 3, what a yes or no vote does, and what did not make it.
Election Day
Nov. 3
Polling hours and mail rules differ by state
11
statewide measures in this guide, across 8 states
9
directly affect LGBTQ+ people, in 7 states
0
change the law on adult sex work
At a glance
The short version
On Nov. 3, voters in eight states decide 11 statewide measures in this guide. Nine directly affect LGBTQ+ people, one in Colorado touches the commercial sex trade, and one in Massachusetts concerns the public's right to government records.
Six of the nine LGBTQ+ measures restrict transgender people's sports participation, use of facilities or access to care. A seventh, in Washington, concerns student records, and advocates say it could out LGBTQ+ students to unsupportive parents. Vermont's and Virginia's expand or secure protections. According to the Movement Advancement Project, 2026 is the first year voters have been asked to enact new statewide restrictions on transgender rights directly.
Read this first
No statewide measure on this ballot decriminalizes, legalizes or newly penalizes adult sex work, and none directly regulates speech, book access, online content or age verification. This guide explains what each vote does. It does not tell you how to vote.
Sex work
The one measure that touches the sex trade
Colorado's Proposition 133 is a citizen initiative about minors, not adults. It would make trafficking a child for sexual servitude a class 1 felony with mandatory life without parole, and expand the crime to include buying sexual activity with a minor, according to the Colorado Blue Book. A no vote keeps current penalties: 8 to 48 years in prison plus mandatory parole.
Victim-service groups such as the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault warn that trafficking victims coerced into helping traffickers could face life sentences, as the Bell Policy Center notes. Supporters point out that the existing affirmative defense for coerced victims stays, as the Denver Gazette reported.
Adult sex work does not change either way. A separate bill to decriminalize adult prostitution in Colorado, SB26-097, was postponed indefinitely in the Legislature on March 11 and is not on the ballot.
State by state
Every measure, and what your vote does
Listed by state. Summaries are neutral and come from official voter guides and nonpartisan trackers.
Arizona
Proposition 318
Limits school and athletic-association restrooms, locker rooms, showers and similar spaces to the sex on a person's original birth certificate, and expands the 2022 ban on trans girls in girls' sports to colleges, private schools and private leagues. Critics say vague "integral to athletic engagement" language could reach spectators.
Yes: These restrictions become law on Jan. 1, 2027. Arizona voter-approved measures are very hard for lawmakers to change later.
No: Current law stays. The 2022 school sports ban remains, with no new facilities rule.
Colorado
Proposition 133
Raises penalties for child sex trafficking and adds buying sex from a minor to the crime.
Yes: Life without parole for buyers and sellers convicted of child sex trafficking.
No: Current penalties stay: 8 to 48 years in prison plus mandatory parole.
Colorado
Proposition 134
Requires K-12 and college athletes to compete on teams matching their sex, defined by "biological reproductive systems." It does not say how sex would be determined and provides no appeals process.
Yes: Colorado's first broad restriction on trans athletes. Schools must adopt policies to enforce it.
No: Current policy, which lets students play on teams aligned with gender identity, continues.
Colorado
Proposition 135
Prohibits surgeries on people under 18 "for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics" and bars state or federal funds, Medicaid and insurance from covering them. It does not ban puberty blockers, hormones or counseling.
Yes: The surgical ban and funding and coverage ban take effect.
No: Decisions stay with patients, families and providers under current law.
Massachusetts
Question 1
Makes most records held by the Legislature and the Governor's office subject to the state public records law, with carve-outs such as policy drafts and constituent communications.
Yes: Those offices must answer public records requests like other agencies.
No: No change. The Legislature stays exempt.
Missouri
Amendment 3
One combined amendment. It repeals the abortion-rights amendment voters passed in 2024, restoring a ban in most cases, and writes a ban on gender-transition surgery, cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors into the constitution.
Yes: The abortion-rights amendment is repealed. The 2023 statutory ban on minors' transition care becomes constitutional and much harder to overturn.
No: The 2024 abortion-rights amendment stays. The minors' care ban remains in statute; it does not end.
Nebraska
Initiative Measure 442
"Fairness for Girls." Requires schools and colleges to designate teams as male, female or coed by biological sex and bars male students from female teams. The Nebraska Supreme Court kept it on the ballot on Oct. 16.
Yes: Nebraska's 2025 statutory sports ban becomes part of the constitution.
No: The 2025 law stays in force as a statute that the Legislature or courts can still change.
Vermont
Proposal 4
Bars the state from denying equal treatment because of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or national origin. It would be the first explicit state constitutional protection for LGBTQ+ residents there.
Yes: These protections go into the constitution. Opponents argue it would give constitutional backing to gender-identity claims in bathrooms and sports.
No: Existing statutory and federal protections continue, with no new constitutional language.
Virginia
Marriage amendment
Removes the 2006 ban on same-sex marriage, unenforceable since Obergefell, and requires the state to issue licenses to and equally recognize marriages of two adults regardless of sex, gender or race.
Yes: Marriage equality is protected in the state constitution even if Obergefell were ever overturned. Opponents argue it embeds gender ideology and threatens religious liberty.
No: The 2006 ban stays in the text and would become enforceable again if federal protection ended.
Washington
Initiative IL26-638
Bars transgender girls from girls' K-12 interscholastic sports and requires every student on a girls' team to submit a provider's statement verifying sex through anatomy, genetics or testosterone.
Yes: The ban and sex verification take effect. Supporters cite fairness and safety; critics say it could mean intimate exams.
No: Current athletics law stays. No student must verify sex.
Washington
Initiative IL26-001
Re-enacts the 2024 parental-rights law as first passed (Initiative 2081), including parent access to children's school medical and counseling records, review of materials and sex-ed opt-outs. The Legislature amended it in 2025. Advocates say LGBTQ+ students could be outed to unsupportive parents.
Yes: The original 2024 version is restored, removing the 2025 safety carve-outs for students at risk at home.
No: The 2025 consolidated law, with those carve-outs, stays.
Speech and censorship
No censorship measure, one records fight
No statewide measure on the ballot directly regulates speech, book access, online content or age verification. Recent fights over library book removal and social-media age checks have played out in legislatures and courts, not on 2026 ballots.
The closest measure is Massachusetts Question 1, on the public's right to government information.
It affects journalists, researchers and residents who request records. Massachusetts is one of four states whose Legislature is fully exempt, according to the Boston Globe. Separately, Washington's IL26-001 lets parents review instructional materials and opt children out of sexual-health education, which some groups frame as a curriculum-content issue.
Off the ballot
What did not make it
These were proposed for 2026 but are not on statewide ballots, per the latest trackers. Trackers can miss late changes.
1
Sports-ban measures
Maine and Nevada, per the Movement Advancement Project.
2
Same-sex marriage ban repeals
Missouri, Ohio and Oregon, per Ballotpedia News.
3
Adult decriminalization
Colorado's SB26-097 died in the Legislature.
Before you vote
Six things to check
Your sample ballot
It is the final word on what you will see. This guide covers statewide measures only; local and county measures are not included.
Where and when
Find your state's election office through vote.gov for your polling place and hours.
Mail ballots
Return deadlines differ by state. If you have a mail ballot, check yours today.
Voter ID
ID rules differ by state. If your name or gender marker has changed, check what your state accepts before you go.
A past record
A past conviction does not bar everyone from voting, and rules differ by state. Ask your state election office.
Trouble at the polls
Election Protection is a nonpartisan hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE. If your name is missing from the rolls, you can ask for a provisional ballot.
The record
Sources
2026 LGBTQ+ Ballot Measures (HeadCount)
Five states voting on anti-trans measures (Ms. Magazine / Uncloseted Media)
The Revival of Anti-LGBTQ Ballot Measures (Movement Advancement Project)
2026 United States ballot measures (Wikipedia)
Arizona Prop 318 explained (FOX 10 Phoenix)
Two Colorado measures (Colorado Newsline)
Proposition 133 (Colorado Blue Book)
Proposition 133 (Colorado Politics)
Colorado Ballot Guide 2026 (Bell Policy Center)
Colorado's kids are not for sale (Denver Gazette)
SB26-097 (Colorado General Assembly)
Nebraska Supreme Court upholds Fairness for Girls measure (WOWT)
Vermont amendments (Seven Days)
Vermont equal protection amendment (Ballotpedia News)
Virginia marriage amendment (Ballotpedia)
Virginia and same-sex marriage ban repeals (Ballotpedia News)
HB612 text (Virginia LIS)
Initiative 638 (Washington State Standard)
2026 ballot measures (Washington State PTA)
Washington IL26-001 (Ballotpedia)
Question 1 (Mass. Secretary of the Commonwealth)
Question 1 (WBUR)
Question 1 opinion (Boston Globe)
In this report
Journalism, not legal advice. Your official sample ballot is the final word.