Ballot Questions

There were 222 ballot question voted on in 41 states in 1998, which is about normal. Arizona led with 12 ballot questions, followed by Oregon, California and Florida with 11 each. So, these four states supplied almost 1/4 of the ballot questions.

The Most Important Questions

The most important ballot questions usually concern life-style. Money and financial issues come next, with procedural issues bringing up the rear.

This year the big issue was Medical Marijuana. While voters were tough on crime, they were soft on drugs. Marijuana was on the ballot 7 times in 5 states: Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Only in Arizona did the Medical Marijuana question lose with 57.3%. It passed in the other states with a high of 58.9% in Washington to a low of 54.5% in Oregon. Even in Arizona, a companion measure to tighten the drugs laws failed with 52% voting against it. In Oregon, a measure to re-criminalize the possession of small amounts of pot lost by a whisker less than 2 to 1.

So, while voters were clearly soft on drugs, they were also tough on crime. Florida, that bastion of democracy, voted 72% to keep the death penalty. Ohio voters, anxious to get on with the killing, voted to make death penalty appeals go directly to the Supreme Court with 70% of the vote. Crime Victims rights passed overwhelmingly in Ohio and Montana with 73.6% and 71.3% of the vote respectively.

While criminal humans fared badly at the hands of the voters, animals fared well, and were important issues, too. Arizona, which refused to allow ill people to use marijuana to ease their suffering, humanely outlawed cock fighting with 68% of the vote. Missouri made animal fighting a class D felony with 62.5% of the vote. California voted 59.3% to prohibit the slaughter of horses and the sale of horsemeat for human consumption. California also passed an animal trap ban by 57.4% of the vote. Alaska forbid the trapping of wolves in snares with 62.8% of the vote.

And, of course, marriage was a hot button issue with the voters in 1998. Alaska, while lenient on drugs was rigid on marriage. It voted 68.1%, better than 2 to 1, to define marriage between one man and one woman only. Whew!

But the greatest issue on the 1998 ballot, the one that clearly demonstrates the superiority of psephology over polling, was in South Carolina. There, voters were asked to repeal obsolete constitutional provisions that prohibited the intermarriage of blacks and whites. Luckily, it passed with 61.9% of the vote, but that still means that 38.1% of the voters in South Carolina, when allowed to express their opinions in the secrecy of the voting booth, were still willing to make a statement in opposition to interracial marriage.

Now, some might say, there are always "no" votes on any issue. That argument might hold water if the same people who voted by almost 40% to keep the ban on interracial marriage hadn't also delivered the most lopsided verdict, better than 9 to 1 for a residency requirement for state legislators.

The 10 Biggest Margins of Victory

The issues that generated the biggest margin of victory were almost all questions that showed the electorate's deep distrust of their elected officials. South Carolina, while voting 38.1% to ban interracial marriage, voted 91.3% to require their State Senators and State Representatives to reside in the districts they represent. The voters didn't trust the parties not to carpetbag, which, given the level of unopposed candidates, is not an idle fear.

Three states showed they don't trust the legislatures not to divert money from the purposes for which it was raised. Wyoming voted 88.2% to keep the money in the Worker's Compensation fund for worker's compensation only. Arizona voted 61.4% to keep state retirement funds for retirees only. And Utah voted to hold trust lands for the purposes for which they were granted. This shows that the voters see the legislatures as trying to grab money from the wrong pot for different purposes. It's a solid vote for honesty in financial accounting.

Residency was another issue which passed by big margins and showed voters distrust of the government. Utah voted 87.1% to require a 3 year continuous residency in the state with 6 months in the district for state legislators. North Dakota voted 82.6% that elected Sheriffs and county officers must reside in the districts they represent at the election. As mentioned above, South Carolina voted by more than 91% for their state representative to live in the districts they represent.

Indiana voted 87% to let people vote who move within Indiana within 30 days of an election and Utah voted 82% to repeal the right of convicted felons to vote and hold office.

The three other issues that make up the 10 biggest margins in 1998 are: Amending the person's rights provisions of the Iowa Constitution to include women (83.5%); allowing Georgia residents to keep their homestead exemption when they are absent for medical reasons (82.6%); and reducing the Massachusetts state income tax on interest and dividends from 12% to 5.95%.[81.8%]

The important point about the issues with the biggest margins is that out of the top 10, only 2 dealt with money.

The 10 Biggest Losing Issues

The biggest losing issue came from Oregon where only 19.3% of the voters supported more restrictive timber harvesting regulations. So much for the environmental movement.

After that, South Dakota's attempt to remove conflict of interest restrictions on legislators received only 21.4%, and only 33% voted to let joint legislative committees approve funding changes when the legislature was not meeting. So, here again, the voters overwhelmingly rejected giving more discretionary power to elected officials.

Other non-started were issues one might normally think popular. South Dakota's attempt to prohibit the use of property taxes for schools only received 22.3% of the vote. Giving local governments authority to issue bonds for economic development projects with the bonds to be paid off with the increased income from the development project only received 34.5% of the vote in West Virginia. Only 35.9% of Nebraska's voters agreed to limit tax increases by state and local government. And in California, slightly more than 1/4 of the voters supported an attempt to prohibit electric utility customers from paying for nuclear plants or the cost recovery of non-nuclear plants.

So, while politicians of both parties rail constantly about the need to lower taxes, the fact is that people are willing to pay taxes if they can be persuaded that the projects are worthwhile. The voters also don't go for blanket tax limitation schemes. In democratic politics, real economics count.

The penultimate of the 10 biggest losing issues are South Dakota's attempt to transfer the unclaimed property office from the elected State Treasurer to the unelected Revenue Secretary. Only 28.9% of the voters supported this obvious attempt to move the power to take property to unelected bureaucrats. The putative reason was to save money, but obviously the voters felt their property more at risk.

And finally, Oregonians voted only 33.54% to recriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot. Considering that people under the age of 18 can't even vote, I'd say the nation is ready to decriminalize and tax drugs; to put the illegal drugs in the same category as legal drugs like tobacco, alcohol and television. But then, what would happen to the police state? The purpose of the hypocrisy of illegal drugs is to make virtually everyone bustable at all times. Joseph Stalin would be jealous.

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Contact: Joshua Leinsdorf