I'm against Citizen Initiatives in principal, but I do think they are an interesting peak into States as laboratories of Democracy. With that in mind, I'd like to hear if anyone's state of residence has any interesting or unique initiatives on their ballot? Sure I could Google, but this may create some interesting discussion (though will probably just end in another pointless abortion debate.) Maine is trying to limit Super PAC contributions to the same $5k limit as PAC contributions. An interesting pushback to CU. Whatchya got?
I agree with you RE: citizen initiatives. Cool thread idea. Colo does not have much int this time around. Last time we decriminalized shrooms & other natural psychedelics while the Free State or Florida is still in the (not) stone(d) ages. I assume our Mt. Lion hunting ban is somewhat unique.
Oregon has Rank Choice Voting on the ballot, and a weak and terribly conceived UBI-lite sponsored by three people from San Francisco.
I love ballot initiatives. In an age of gerrymandering and doofus politicians, power to the people! But I live in Florida, and I'm sure you're already aware of ours.
Ohio has a constitutional amendment on the ballot to forbid politicians from taking part in drawing districts. The districts will be drawn up by a committee of citizens, balanced between both parties and independents. It is a strangest written initiative I think I’ve ever seen. I thought people proposing the initiative got to write the language for it. However, the language for this one is written entirely biased against the initiative, which I found very weird. Basically Democrats are for the initiative and Republicans are against it. The most powerful advertisement is the former chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, a Republican, coming out in favor of the amendment.
Maine outlawed bear baiting through a ballot measure a few years back. I wonder how often wildlife protection legislation comes directly from the people instead of the legislature.
Excellent. I'm a RCV fan. Come join the cool kids (ME and AK)! Maybe if we get out of this pickle we're in, we can start having some real choices someday.
Different states have different rules around ballot measures, but drafting the proposed legislation is a near universal problem from my understanding. Many times they're created too poorly to withstand judicial challenges if they do get passed. (Part of my issue with it all.) I love that we're seeing things like gerrymandering and unlimited donations as something the people care about, though!
a neighbor of mine (with a vote no on 127 sign) works for the dept of wildlife. He thinks this should be entirely handled by the the appropriate dept of wildlife management.
I would be in favor of it too. It is strange that the language is against it. I'd be interested to read the language.
This is some of the ballot language: The proposed amendment would: 1. Repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018, and eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts. https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/elections/2024/gen/issuereport.pdf That is strange language to try to get the issue passed.
Most of these they kind of write them with a double negative in the language so you don't really know if a yes vote supports it or not. Probably on purpose.
Quickly reading through the cumbersome and somewhat complicated language, it seems the Amendment wants to abolish the current system (thus the language you quoted) and start all over with a system that is as neutral as possible. I'm curious, do you consider yourself "neutral", i.e., affiliated with neither party? I can't say that I am, having never voted republican in a Presidential, Senate or House race. But, I have agreed with a number of Republican proposals over the years.
The first time I voted was when I was at UF. The polling place was an elementary school south of campus. I stood in line for two hours, but it came to time for rugby practice, and so I left the line. After practice, I returned and stood in line another 45 minutes. The precinct had those big voting machines were you pull a curtain closed and it reset all the switches on the machine. I remember they had two switches that would let you vote all Republican or all Democrat without having to make all the individual selections. Because I had registered late, I was only allowed to vote for president and nothing else. I walked into the machine, pulled the curtain closed, and flipped one switch for Jimmy Carter. Over the years I have voted for president Democrat, Republican, third-party, and abstained. I’ve only voted in Florida and California and Ohio, and don’t remember how Florida and California handled registration. In Ohio, in every primary they ask you which ballot you want – Republican, Democrat, or independent. Whichever ballot you take, you are then registered for that party for the next two years. So I’ve been registered both R and D in Ohio because I take the primary ballot that’s most interesting. BTW, I might be the only one on GC who voted for Jesse Jackson in a primary for president. That was before he became rich being a shakedown artist of corporations.
I forgot that I voted for Romney. He's turned out to be the man I thought be was and think he might have made a better president than Obama because he could reach across the aisle and be listened to, and because he had principles he has adhered to. I admired Obama as well.
I used to vote for John Lewis every 2 years when I lived in Atlanta. Then they redistricted and I got to not vote for Cynthia McKinney. L
