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The fate of multiple high-stakes California ballot propositions remained undecided Wednesday, as poll workers continued to tally votes from across the state.

Other measures have generated decisive action from voters on such issues as public funding for housing and voter identification.

Six races have been called by the Associated Press, according to The Times tracker. They include four propositions — 1, 2, 3 and 37 — and two failed measures — 39 and 44. Eight remained undecided.

So far, there have been no big surprises, said Mark Baldassare, statewide survey director at the Public Policy Institute of California. The verdicts are “consistent with what we were seeing in the preelection polling.”

Undecided

Among the undecided items is Proposition 4, which would allow state and local governments to use public money to help finance political campaigns — something California largely has prohibited since 1988. The measure would lift that prohibition, subject to restrictions on how the money could be used and who could receive it. As of Wednesday, votes were leaning slightly against the proposition.

Another undecided item, Proposition 5, would change the process for recalling an elected official. It would separate the decision to recall the official from the choice of who replaces them, creating a second election or appointment process to determine the successor. The race was very tight Wednesday, with votes in favor holding a narrow edge.

Proposition 38 is leaning toward a passing vote by a solid margin. The measure would authorize the state to issue $8.4 billion in bonds to fund immunology and immunotherapy research that aims to cure and prevent cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Half the money would go to a single UC-affiliated nonprofit research institute, with the other half distributed through research grants.

One closely watched item, Proposition 40 — the so-called “billionaire tax” — also is leaning toward a likely rejection from voters. The proposition would create a one-time 5% tax on individuals and trusts with wealth of more than $1 billion, with the revenue going toward healthcare, food assistance and education. State officials estimated it would generate tens of billions of dollars for the state, but others, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, warned that it would lead wealthy residents to leave California and lead to future budget problems.

Two separate ballot measures, Proposition 41 and Proposition 42, were crafted to nullify the wealth tax and still remain too close to call.

Proposition 43, meanwhile, would require a two-thirds vote, rather than a simple majority, to approve certain local government taxes. It was leaning toward rejection.

Another big-ticket item, Proposition 45, was opposed by a small margin of voters but still too close to call. It would change the state’s landmark environmental review process, the California Environmental Quality Act, by shortening deadlines and permitting rules for public and private development projects. Supporters say it would cut costly delays and expedite essential housing, transportation, water, health and education projects. But opponents say it would clear the path for more artificial intelligence data centers.

Prop. 45 “has been interesting all along because it fits in with concerns about housing affordability,” Baldassare said. However, it also raised questions about “unintended consequences” for the environment.

“CEQA reform is complicated, let’s face it,” he said. “That has made the voters more split.”

Passed

The passing propositions each won with what were considerable margins Wednesday.

They included Proposition 1, which authorizes $11.25 billion in state bonds to finance affordable housing programs, with $1.25 billion set aside for housing for veterans.

Another passing item, Proposition 2, gives lawmakers the ability to put more money into California’s “rainy day fund,” doubling the reserve from 10% to 20% of the state’s general fund revenues. It also would require the state to save more in years when tax revenues are high, helping to weather economic ups and downs. It passed with a clear majority, according to The Times tracker.

Voters also approved Proposition 3, which permanently extends a high-income tax increase on California’s highest earners. The increase was approved by voters in 2012 and was scheduled to expire in 2031. The money generated by Proposition 3 would flow to education, with 89% going to K-12 schools and 11% to community colleges. It is separate from Proposition 40 — the more controversial tax on California’s wealthiest citizens, which remains undecided.

“We saw a majority of Californians in our poll saying that the wealthy should be taxed,” Baldassare said. And while voters were warned that Proposition 40 could push billionaires out of the state, Proposition 3 seemed a more palatable way to do that.

Proposition 37 passed with a clear majority of the vote. It authorizes up to $25 billion in state-issued bonds to create a loan program to help middle-income Californians buy newly constructed homes. Qualified buyers can borrow up to 17% of the price of the home while contributing 3% of the down payment from their own funds.

“There’s been strong support for the idea of spending more money on housing affordability through bonds, not taxes, and that explains the support that we saw all along for Proposition 1 and Proposition 37, despite the fact that it’s a lot of bond money,” Baldassare said.

Rejected

Californians rejected Proposition 39, which would have required voters to provide government-issued identification when voting in person or provide identifying information on mail-in ballots. It would have changed California’s signature-based voter identification system and was a resounding rejection of the broader fight playing out over onerous voter ID measures at the national level.

This was another measure where voters received a clear message, including from governor-elect Xavier Becerra, who urged Californians to vote no, Baldassare said.

“We saw in our polling before the election that most Californians don’t think that there’s a problem with the way that we go about our elections and casting ballots and counting votes … so that sort of didn’t align with thinking,” he said.

California voters also resoundingly rejected Proposition 44. The act would have required certain nonprofit community health clinics serving low-income and medically underserved populations to spend at least 90% of their annual revenue on health care services. Those that fell short would be penalized. As of Wednesday morning, a whopping 82% of votes were against the proposition, more than any other.

A FedEx truck parked near the sprawling grading center of Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) in Santa Ana was robbed a week ago of trading cards worth nearly $1 million, the Santa Ana Police Department said.

PSA reported to police that two stolen pallets of about 100 packages of cards apiece had an approximate value of $963,000. About 50 packages from a third pallet were also stolen, and their value was still being calculated as of Tuesday morning.

The cards had been sent from all over the country to PSA to be graded, a necessary step for collectors in authenticating their wares. Items included primarily sports cards and Pokémon cards, as well as one-of-one pieces. The cards had been graded and were set to be returned to their owners when they were stolen.

The FedEx driver left the vehicle, which was parked near PSA’s shipping and receiving address at 1610 E. St. Andrew Place, for an hour to 90 minutes, police said. The truck lock was busted and packages stolen while he was away.

“It remains an open case,” Santa Ana police spokesperson Natalie Garcia told NBC News, “and we have not made any arrests or recovered any stolen goods.”

PSA said it was taking measures to prevent the stolen cards from circulating through the usual venues and marketplaces while also reimbursing card owners for at least a portion of their losses. Trading cards and other collectibles are verified and assigned condition grades by PSA, which establishes their value and protects them by assigning serial numbers and certification information. PSA said it has deactivated the certificates tied to the stolen items.

“We have deactivated the certificates for the stolen items and notified marketplace partners so they can be on the lookout for rare and serialized items,” PSA said in a statement. “Our customer service team has contacted affected customers directly and is arranging compensation based on fair market value.”

PSA sent a letter to affected cards owners, detailing the steps taken to make the owners whole.

“After leaving our PSA facility in Southern California, a FedEx vehicle transporting PSA orders was burglarized, and items were stolen,” the letter read, continuing with a list of items titled “What we are doing.”

Among the items are deactivating the serial numbers on the affected items, notifying commerce partners across digital, auction and other selling platforms so they can look out for stolen items; aiding FedEx and law enforcement in their investigations; and studying what happened so a repeat can be avoided.

Nick Andrews, whose social media persona is the Boston Card Hunter, is keeping track of items reported stolen, a number that had exceeded 1,000 by Tuesday morning. He wrote on X that one victim had cards worth $500,000 stolen.

Card trader Sky-B said on a video that 104 of the cards he collected over the past two years are missing. They had been certified at PSA and were being returned to him in Michigan when he learned about the theft. He said he spent $8,000 on grading, and the cards carried insurance of up to $156,000, less than their market value.

“There were cards in that order that you can’t replace,” Sky-B said.

Longtime sports business reporter Darren Rovell, an avid trading card and memorabilia collector since childhood, said on social media that expensive collectibles are at risk any time they are shipped. Not only can shipping labels and declared insurance values reveal their potential contents, “the simple name PSA or Collectors in the address box is the threat,” Rovell wrote.

Hayden Panettiere‘s former fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, was granted temporary guardianship of her estate on Friday, following the actor’s sudden death in August.

Klitschko appeared in virtual court on Thursday alongside their 11-year-old daughter Kaya, according to People.

Kaya is the sole heir of the estate of the “Heroes” star, who on Aug. 16 was found unresponsive in a Greenville, S.C., residence. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office ruled the death an accidental overdose involving several drugs, including fentanyl.

Klitschko filed a petition in a Los Angeles County court on Sept. 24, requesting that he be allowed to act as Kaya’s representative. The Ukrainian boxer and Olympic gold medalist has had full custody of their daughter since 2018.

The filing cites items that were seized from her home in a federal investigation with no assurance that they will be returned, as well as unauthorized people who gained access to her Los Angeles residence.

“Without an immediate appointment for these purposes, there is a high probability that property belonging to Hayden’s Estate may be lost, damaged or dissipated before a duly appointed personal representative can be in place to protect it,” the filing stated.

According to the petition, Panettiere and Klitschko hired security before her death to protect her home because an unnamed person gained access inside. Her ex-fiancé feared that the same person would continue to “misappropriate” items belonging to the actor’s estate.

A day before their Oct. 8 court date, Klitschko submitted a supplemental claim to the earlier petition where he believed someone from outside of Panettiere’s family was selling some of her possessions, including jewelry, to a pawn shop, per ABC News.

In addition to seeking guardianship, Klitschko also asked the courts to grant him the ability to “request and authorize law enforcement investigation into the recovery of Hayden’s property believed to have been misappropriated.”

Panettiere and Klitschko had an on-and-off relationship between 2009 and 2018 and were briefly engaged in 2013. In 2014, the “Nashville” and “Ice Princess” star welcomed their daughter, but relinquished full custody to Klitschko in 2018 due to her struggles with postpartum depression and substance abuse.

“It was the hardest thing I could do,” she said during a 2022 appearance on “Red Table Talk.” “But the best thing for my daughter was to make sure she was OK, take care of myself and make sure I could be a good mom to her. And sometimes that means letting go.”

Klitschko has always spoken highly of Panettiere, lamenting his loss on Instagram, where he shared a picture of the two with Kaya (with an orange dot covering her face) on Aug. 18. In his post, he stated that the family was going through “profound shock and grief.” He also acknowledged his ex-fiancé’s experience navigating demands of the entertainment industry.

“Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives,” he wrote in the Instagram caption. “To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.”

The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7, when permanent guardianship of the estate will be decided; however Kaya does not need to be present.

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.