One Ballot Measure for 2026
For the full list of referendums we’re tracking, see our home page.
Designate Drug Cartels as Terrorist Organizations and Require State DHS to Address Threats Measure
on Ballot: November 3, 2025
See the Ballotpedia page for more information and updates.
This law was originally passed as a bill in the Arizona legislature in 2023, but was vetoed by the governor. The legislature has now referred this for the ballot, which bypasses the governor.
All violence is harmful, by definition, but mis-categorizing it can be deadly.
“Terrorism” is illegal violence against innocent civilians whose purpose is to strike fear to reach political, social, or ideological goals.
If there’s illegal violence whose purpose is to make money, then that’s an outrage and it’s criminal, and so should be stopped. That’s what police are for.
But if the word “terrorism” is broadly applied willy-nilly to any kind of criminal violence, and if the conclusion is that techniques of war are now called for, then more people, both innocent and guilty, will be killed — because that’s the nature of war.
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