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People cast their votes at the Milwaukee Public Market polling place on midterm Election Day, November 3, 2026, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (AP/Nam Y. Huh)

JTA — A Wisconsin referendum that would prohibit state and local governments from closing places of worship in response to a declared emergency was rejected in Tuesday’s election by 52% of voters.

The question was raised in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which places of worship were subject to public health orders restricting large gatherings. If approved, the Wisconsin Constitution would have gained language prohibiting the state from “ordering the closure of or forbidding gatherings in places of worship in response to a state of emergency at the national, state, or local level, including an emergency related to public health.”

Critics said that the language of the referendum was vague because it did not define a “place of worship,” leaving uncertainty over whether it could encompass someone’s home in which religious…