State Ballot Qs

[WillBrink]

STATE BALLOTS Qs:

My state (MA) has two interesting/controversial ballot measures this election:

Medically assisted death:

Question 2: Would establish an "Act Relative to Death with Dignity".

Medical marijuana

Question 3 : Would allow for the use of medical marijuana in the state.

My guess both will pass and I'm fine with that personally.

Any interesting/controversial ballots this election in your states?

[nineteenkilo]

We have a few cool ones here in Alabama:

Amendment 6 - Prohibit mandatory healthcare coverage (Punts Obamacare)

Amendment 7 - Allows the use of secret ballots in union voting

Amendment 8 - Legislators cannot receive an increase in compensation while in office

All of them are listed here (http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Alabama_elections,_2012) if anyone is interested in our humble state.

[tb-av]

Virginia

Eminent domain Would limit instances when private property could be taken for public use.

State legislatures Allows the legislature to delay the start of its veto session by up to one week.


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A few years ago we had a question and I can't recall it... but if you were not already aware of what was going on it was incredibly hard to understand as it was worded similar to a double negative. So if you thought you voted in opposition, you were actually voting in support.

[Pork Chop]

Nebraska

Add a Constitutional amendment protecting the right to hunt/fish

[500grains]

Utah:

Amendment B would authorize creation of a property tax exemption on the primary residence of a person in the military. To qualify, that service member would have to have served in active duty out of state for at least 200 days in a calendar year or 200 consecutive days.

The exemption would cover only the service member’s property taxes for the year following the year they are deployed.

[500grains]

We have a few cool ones here in Alabama:

Amendment 6 - Prohibit mandatory healthcare coverage (Punts Obamacare)


Very nice!!

[NWPilgrim]

Oregon

1) Measure 77: Amends constitution to allow Governor to declare "catastrophic disaster" (man-made, terrorist, natural) and suspend constitutional spending limits.

2) Initiative 80: Allows personal marijuana, hemp cultivation without license.

I can just imagine we will have yearly "catastrophic disasters" that require spending beyond constitutional limits. Maybe that is why we need the hemp farms, to kill the resulting pain.

[nineteenkilo]

Oregon

1) (...) suspend constitutional spending limits.



Damn man. That's mighty strong right there. In the hands of a less than honorable person (e.g. a politician), it could easily be misused.

:jester:

[drrufo]

You guys are lucky, we get--
Prop 30- vote yourself high income tax and high sales tax or we will take 6 billion from the schools and safety.
Prop 33(?)- vote yourself high income tax and high sales tax. Sponsored by one of Warren Buffets partners daughter.
Prop 32- stop all union and business donations to political parties, except for the sponsors of Prop 32.
Prop(?) stop the death penalty because the current routinue is too expensive. Keep them is jail for life, not any cheaper.
Prop(?) label all food for their GMO content, even if there isnt any.
All of this in a state with the highest income tax, highest business tax, most business regulations, highest unemployement, and the highest salary for state representives.

[montanadave]

Montana had laws on the books for almost a hundred years restricting corporate campaign contributions, a response to the days of the Butte Copper Kings and the Anaconda Corporation who effectively bought the state house and state legislature.

With the Citizens United SCOTUS decision, those laws were ruled unconstitutional and an ongoing series of legal battles between state and federal authorities ensued. This November, there is an ballot initiative, I-166, which states corporations are not entitled to the same constitutional rights as human beings and mandates state elected and appointed officials with pursuing policies consistent with that view.

The PBS news show, Frontline, will broadcast an episode entitled Big Sky, Big Money tomorrow night (Oct. 30) which investigates the impact the Citizens United decision has had on Montana state politics and some of the shadier "dark money" which has flooded into the campaign coffers of many candidates for state office.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money/

While decidedly a local issue in a sparsely populated and remote state, what's happening in Montana may have far reaching impacts on national campaign finance reform.

[WillBrink]

STATE BALLOTS Qs:

My state (MA) has two interesting/controversial ballot measures this election:

Medically assisted death:

Question 2: Would establish an "Act Relative to Death with Dignity".

Medical marijuana

Question 3 : Would allow for the use of medical marijuana in the state.

My guess both will pass and I'm fine with that personally.

Any interesting/controversial ballots this election in your states?

Follow up: narrow "no" on 2 (which surprised me) and a big "yes" on 3, which didn't surprise me.

What you got?

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

We are literally high here in Colorado. Decriminalzed MJ, but I'm not sure of the details.

The keep pushing more restrictions on smoking and make MJ legal. I dont' get it.

Pass the soma.

[nineteenkilo]

Amendment 6 - Prohibit mandatory healthcare coverage (Punts Obamacare)

Amendment 7 - Allows the use of secret ballots in union voting

Amendment 8 - Legislators cannot receive an increase in compensation while in office



A very wide 'YES' on all three counts. Obamacare died a fiery death.

[chadbag]

There were two Constitutional Amendments in Utah. Both passed. The following is my understanding, in my own words, of what they were and may be slightly inaccurate.

One restricted what the legislature can do with (forced to save) the "severance tax", which is basically royalties on natural resources extracted from Utah ground.

The others eliminates property tax on military who own property in Utah and are deployed 200 or more days of the year. I am not sure of the details on what constitutes "deployment" or if someone were based, say, at Eglin in Florida for more than 200 days. IOW, I don't know if it is out of state or out of country. It is probably clear in the wording, but I just read a synopsis of it.


In my county, we also had a "Question #1" which was to authorize $47 million worth of bonds, to be paid by an increase in property taxes, for parks and trails and stuff. I voted NO. It passed.


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