Steve Yeater/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation Supporters of Proposition 10, in favor of rent control and building more affordable housing, listen to labor and civic leaders speak during a press conference in Sacramento, California. B allot measures don’t often earn much attention nationally, but such statewide initiatives are arduous to launch. They require an incredible investment in advertising and boots-on-the-ground organizing. And almost always, progressive measures face deep-pocketed corporate opposition. In spite of these incredible odds, several states are moving forward with ballot questions on a diverse range of issues from housing and the environment to sexual violence . Next week Californians will weigh in on Proposition 10 which would repeal a real-estate developer-funded state pre-emption law on housing that dates back to the 1990s and the administration of Republican Governor Pete Wilson. State pre-emption is a perfect example of a complicated concept—one that...