November 3, 2004
By Charisse Jones
USA Today
Voters around the country Tuesday weighed in on a range of state measures from legalizing marijuana to banning gay marriage and scrapping the tradition of winner takes all electoral votes in a presidential election. Gay-marriage bans bulldozed to victory in all 11 states that voted on the measure: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.
Ballot initiatives
Key results
But it was Colorado's initiative that could have had the most immediate effect. The measure, which was defeated, would apportion the state's nine electoral votes based on each presidential candidate's share of the popular vote and would go into effect for this year's election.
All but two states give all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins a majority of the state's popular vote. Nebraska and Maine give the winner of the statewide vote two electoral votes, then allocate the rest based on the winners in congressional districts.
Elsewhere, Montana became the 10th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, but Alaskans defeated a more ambitious proposal to decriminalize pot altogether. In Oregon, voters rejected a measure that would have dramatically expanded its existing medical marijuana program.
Federal drug czar John Walters was heartened by the outcome in Alaska.
"This public health victory reaffirms the simple, inescapable fact that no family, no community, no state is better off with more drug use," he said.
In a year when same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, the issue made its way onto 11 ballots. Opponents said the measures were a strategy by Republicans to galvanize their conservative base and get them to the polls. But both supporters and opponents said that during a particularly contentious election year, turnout would likely have been high with or without the proposed amendments.
"It's conceivable this measure might turn out some people of faith that are typically apolitical," said Mike White, executive director of Oregon's Defense of Marriage Coalition. "But I think in the big scheme of things ... this is going to be a large turnout and our measure doesn't have that big of a role in it."
Amendments banning same-sex marriage were passed earlier this year in Louisiana and Missouri. They joined Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Nebraska, whose constitutions define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
In California, voters decided to fund research on embryonic stem cells. They may alter the state's "three-strikes" law. The law says any third felony conviction, from shoplifting to car theft, can result in a life sentence. California is the only state among 23 with three-strikes laws to include the lesser offenses. The ballot measure would change that to say that a third criminal offense must be a serious or violent felony to warrant a life sentence.
One surprise was in Arizona, where a widely supported partnership plan between universities and businesses was defeated.
Other notable measures on state and local ballots:
ALABAMA:
• Remove language from state constitution requiring racial segregation in public schools.
ALASKA:
• Measure to decriminalize marijuana failed.
• Fill U.S. Senate vacancies by special election, not gubernatorial appointment.
• Ban bear-baiting.
ARKANSAS:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
• Increase property tax rates to support public education.
ARIZONA:
• Approved requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and proof of immigration status to obtain certain government services.
CALIFORNIA:
•Passed measure to devote $3 billion to human embryonic stem cell experiments.
• Create open primaries
• Raise taxes on rich to boost mental health care.
• Tone down three-strikes law to deal only with serious crimes.
• Allow card clubs and racetracks to add 30,000 slot machines.
• Give Indian tribes broader gambling rights in return for paying state 8.8% of revenue.
• Repeal law making businesses offer health insurance to workers.
COLORADO:
• Raise tobacco tax from 20 cents to 84 cents a pack to fund health care.
• Voters refused to scrap winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes, instead allocating them proportionally according to popular vote.
• Require power companies to use some renewable energy.
FLORIDA:
•Passed measure to limit privacy rights of girls under 18, a prelude to any future law requiring parents be told when minor daughters seek abortions.
• Repeal high-speed train project, which Gov. Jeb Bush says state can't afford.
•Overwhelmingly raised state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour.
• Authorize Miami-Dade, Broward counties to hold referendums on allowing slot machines at racetracks, jai alai frontons.
• Bar licensing of doctors who commit three or more incidents of medical malpractice.
• Cap attorney fees in medical malpractice suits.
GEORGIA:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
KENTUCKY:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
MAINE:
• Cap property taxes at 1% of assessed value.
• Ban bear hunting with bait, dogs and traps.
MICHIGAN:
•Gay marriage ban passed.
• Require voter approval of new forms of gambling.
MISSISSIPPI:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
MONTANA:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
•Marijuana use allowed for medical purposes.
• Lift ban on use of cyanide in some new gold and silver mines.
•Cigarette pack tax raised from 70 cents to $1.70.
NEBRASKA:
• Legalize two casinos.
• Divert $2 million a year in lottery proceeds for improvements at state fairgrounds.
NEVADA:
• Raise state minimum wage to $6.15 from $5.15 an hour.
• Place $350,000 limit on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases.
• Require legislature fund public schools ahead of all other items.
•Require state to fund schools at least at national average.
NORTH DAKOTA:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
OHIO:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
OKLAHOMA:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
• Start lottery, with state's proceeds dedicated to education.
• Boost tax on cigarette pack by 55 cents to help fund health care.
• Allow slot machines at horse tracks, expand tribal gambling options.
OREGON:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
• Expand existing medical marijuana program.
• Place $500,000 limit on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice suits.
SOUTH CAROLINA:
• Drop requirement that bars, restaurants serve liquor from minibottles.
SOUTH DAKOTA:
• Exempt groceries from state and city sales tax.
UTAH:
• Gay marriage ban passed.
• $150 million bond for conservation projects.
WASHINGTON:
• Allow more non-Indian gambling, dedicate tax revenue to property tax relief.
• Boost sales tax by a penny to provide $1 billion a year for education.
• Allow charter schools.
• Adopt open primary system.
• Block federal government from sending radioactive waste from other states to Hanford nuclear site until waste already there is cleaned up.
WEST VIRGINIA:
• Let lawmakers allocate taxes or sell bonds to pay bonuses to veterans of Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq.
WYOMING:
• Allow cap on medical malpractice damages for pain and suffering.
LOCAL MEASURES:
•Berkeley, Calif: decriminalize prostitution.
•Cincinnati: repeal 1993 ban on gay rights laws.
•Columbus, Ohio: ban smoking in public places.
•Maryland's Talbot County: limit size of superstores to 65,000 square feet.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/initiative.htm