state ballot questions

[chiver78]

I'm curious about the rest of the country, if any of you feel like sharing. and don't feel like you need to share your vote in order to participate!  what questions are on your ballots, which state are you in? I'm in MA, we had three questions as a state (I'm aware of a neighboring town having at least one more town question) that have had some heated debates over the campaign season. links to each question's text can be found under the bold headings. 

Question 1: Seeking to follow CA's lead, one of the nurses' unions here is looking to have government-mandated limits on how many patients each nurse can serve at a time. Proponents argue this will save lives by preventing nurses from taking on more than they can handle. Opponents argue that the law is poorly written - too rigid with limits, not giving enough time to comply with the law. Nurses with focuses in specialties but located in hospital spaces fear they will be negatively affected by having to increase ER staff, as an example. 
This question had a dramatic shift in the polls late in the season, as voters began to understand the question better. I'll admit I was confused at first, as well. 

Question 2: Would create a citizen commission to push new laws to limit the influence of money in politics, specifically to overturn the Citizens United ruling.
All polls I've seen show this one passing easily. 

Question 3: This question is on the national radar, as it may influence what other states do in the same area. This question seeks to repeal a 2016 state law, which had been widely supported across party lines, that banned discrimination against transgender people in places of public accommodation - AKA 'the bathroom law'. Supporters of the repeal argue many of the same ideas seen here on YMAM - fears of unlimited access for a vague 'all'. Supporters of the law point to the statistic that there have been zero attacks or invasions of privacy as a result of the 2016 law. 
This question is a referendum on existing law, rather than a new proposal. Due to requirements for wording on the question itself, proponents of the repeal actually will be voting 'no' on this question. 

[wvugurl26]

Maryland had two amendments on the ballot. One to allow election day voter registration and one dealing with earmarking tax revenue from the six casinos for K-12 education.

[spartyparty]

MI

One to make pot legal.  Hell yeah!

One to make voting easier.  Hell yeah!

One to do away with gerrymandering.  Hell yeah!

[teen persuasion]

NY

Zero questions

[engineerdoe]

State of Washington
 I-1631:
The initiative proposes to reduce pollution by levying a fee on greenhouse gas emissions generated within the state of Washington, and using that revenue to support air quality and energy projects, as well as water quality and forest health initiatives. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Initiative_1631

I-1634:
The initiative proposes to prohibit local government entities from imposing any new tax, fee, or other assessment on grocery items.

ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_1634,_Prohibit_Local_Taxes_on_Groceries_Measure_(2018)

I-1639:

Initiative #1639 would implement restrictions on the purchase and ownership of firearms. These restrictions include background checks, storage requirements, and waiting periods for purchasing semiautomatic assault rifles, as well as increasing the minimum age to buy semiautomatic assault rifles to 21.

ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_1639,_Changes_to_Gun_Ownership_and_Purchase_Requirements_Measure_(2018)

I-940:

Initiative 940 would create a good faith test to determine when the use of deadly force by police is justifiable, require police to receive de-escalation and mental health training, and provide that police have a duty to render first aid. It would remove the requirement that prosecutors show that a law enforcement officer acted with malice to be convicted.


ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_940,_Police_Training_and_Criminal_Liability_in_Cases_of_Deadly_Force_Measure_(2018)

[pooks]

Idaho has 2 propositions on the ballet.  It is the only thing interesting to watch, because all the other races are easy to call.  

Prop#2 would expand medicaid.  It was endorsed by the major news papers and the leaving R governor.  The against side seems to hate anything related to Obama or the ACA.  No idea how it will go.   

Prop#1 is authorizing historical horse racing, which I think is some machine.  I have seen the most advertising on this issue, more than any other race.  Both sides seem to be well funded.  No idea how it will go.  

[Wisconsin Beth]

Nothing statewide in Wisconsin but my county has a question about legalizing personal use of pot. I'm told about 16 of our 72? counties have some kind of pot question on them.

[PK Bucko]

There are 3 different medical marijuana initiatives on the Missouri ballot. It's confusing as hell. If 2 of the 3 pass, they'll wind up in court to determine how it's supposed to proceed. Total clusterfuck. 

Oh and they're all poorly written. Which makes any one or combo of them likely to wind up in court anyway. 

[alabamagal]

Alabama

- 10 commandments in the courthouse
- abortion restrictions
- something about how they appoint trustees for university system. I think backstory has to do with college football.
- whether the governor can fill senate and house vacancies, which seems to be a fallout from Jeff Sessions vacated seat.

Marijuana has no shot here. We just got Sunday alcohol sales in my county 3 years ago.

[billisonboard]

I-1634:
The initiative proposes to prohibit local government entities from imposing any new tax, fee, or other assessment on grocery items.

ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_1634,_Prohibit_Local_Taxes_on_Groceries_Measure_(2018)

...

There is no way this one will not pass - so I voted against it.

The only thing it realistically would prevent are taxes on sweetened beverages. Any local governmental entity that attempted to tax food would be voted out immediately.

I would have voted for it if just once I saw a commercial with a mom surrounded by obese kids with teeth rotting out and her saying:

"You know, if I have to tell these guys I can't afford to buy all the sodee pop that they want, all hells gonna break loose. You all don't want to see that. So a bunch of real smart guys who make Mountain Dew came up with this idea to get people to think there are folks just waitin' to tax their veggies.  Pretty cool.  So anyways, help me out here and vote for it, 'kay?"

[oped]

We had none. It was almost crazy short. 

[happyhoix]

Nov 6, 2018 14:03:42 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Alabama

- 10 commandments in the courthouse
- abortion restrictions
- something about how they appoint trustees for university system. I think backstory has to do with college football.
- whether the governor can fill senate and house vacancies, which seems to be a fallout from Jeff Sessions vacated seat.

Marijuana has no shot here. We just got Sunday alcohol sales in my county 3 years ago.

Georgia - we still don't have alcohol sales on Sundays.

Forces us to plan ahead.

[justme]

Florida is a clusterfuck with the amount we had. Won't take up an entire page to list em here.

And that's with a judge throwing several of them off!

[PK Bucko]

Nov 6, 2018 14:11:40 GMT -5 justme said:

Florida is a clusterfuck with the amount we had. Won't take up an entire page to list em here.

And that's with a judge throwing several of them off!

Same here. There is a lot on the ballot here in Missouri today. 

[happyhoix]

We had several, most incomprehensible. I suspect they are deliberately written that way to obscure their real meaning.

One had to do with people who own multiple 100 acre plots that are not contiguous not having to pay as much in taxes. WTH.

I voted no. You have enough money to own multiple 100 acre plots, cough up some tax money like the rest of us..

[chiver78]

Nov 6, 2018 14:10:34 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Nov 6, 2018 14:03:42 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Alabama

- 10 commandments in the courthouse
- abortion restrictions
- something about how they appoint trustees for university system. I think backstory has to do with college football.
- whether the governor can fill senate and house vacancies, which seems to be a fallout from Jeff Sessions vacated seat.

Marijuana has no shot here. We just got Sunday alcohol sales in my county 3 years ago.

Georgia - we still don't have alcohol sales on Sundays.

Forces us to plan ahead.

MA has only been in the last decade or so. the joke was always that you knew you grew up in MA if you'd taken a road trip to NH on a Sunday specifically for booze. 

[chiver78]

Nov 6, 2018 14:13:04 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

We had several, most incomprehensible. I suspect they are deliberately written that way to obscure their real meaning.

One had to do with people who own multiple 100 acre plots that are not contiguous not having to pay as much in taxes. WTH.

I voted no. You have enough money to own multiple 100 acre plots, cough up some tax money like the rest of us..

I have always wondered if it's just MA that puts a line under the actual question text to say: 
a YES vote will..... 
a NO vote will.... 

even if it's as little as "keeps things as they are currently" as the end of the sentence. 

do you guys not have something like that?

[chiver78]

Nov 6, 2018 14:03:42 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Alabama

- 10 commandments in the courthouse
- abortion restrictions
- something about how they appoint trustees for university system. I think backstory has to do with college football.
- whether the governor can fill senate and house vacancies, which seems to be a fallout from Jeff Sessions vacated seat.

Marijuana has no shot here. We just got Sunday alcohol sales in my county 3 years ago.

as in, they want to be able to display them? yikes. 

[swasat]

Tennessee

No questions. Short ballot, 5 races only.

And for the first time in my entire life I voted a single party straight across. Never before have I voted within party lines. I vote for the candidate, not the party. This time, I AM PISSED, so one single party got my entire vote.

[Happy prose]

NJ- Can the state borrow $500 million to expand vocational schools and boost security across school districts.

NO, you may not!

[bean29]

Nov 6, 2018 13:49:49 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Nothing statewide in Wisconsin but my county has a question about legalizing personal use of pot. I'm told about 16 of our 72? counties have some kind of pot question on them.

Yeah, my Daughter told me Jefferson County does not have the initiative, so if it Passes, we need a second referendum to go statewide?  I don't understand.

[engineerdoe]

Nov 6, 2018 14:04:29 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

I-1634:
The initiative proposes to prohibit local government entities from imposing any new tax, fee, or other assessment on grocery items.

ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_1634,_Prohibit_Local_Taxes_on_Groceries_Measure_(2018)

...

There is no way this one will not pass - so I voted against it.

The only thing it realistically would prevent are taxes on sweetened beverages. Any local governmental entity that attempted to tax food would be voted out immediately.

I would have voted for it if just once I saw a commercial with a mom surrounded by obese kids with teeth rotting out and her saying:

"You know, if I have to tell these guys I can't afford to buy all the sodee pop that they want, all hells gonna break loose. You all don't want to see that. So a bunch of real smart guys who make Mountain Dew came up with this idea to get people to think there are folks just waitin' to tax their veggies.  Pretty cool.  So anyways, help me out here and vote for it, 'kay?"

I voted against it too but yes, all the ads supporting it (paid for by three soda companies) are tugging heavily on the heart strings that it would be a full on grocery tax.  

[engineerdoe]

Nov 6, 2018 14:32:57 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Nov 6, 2018 14:13:04 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

We had several, most incomprehensible. I suspect they are deliberately written that way to obscure their real meaning.

One had to do with people who own multiple 100 acre plots that are not contiguous not having to pay as much in taxes. WTH.

I voted no. You have enough money to own multiple 100 acre plots, cough up some tax money like the rest of us..

I have always wondered if it's just MA that puts a line under the actual question text to say: 
a YES vote will..... 
a NO vote will.... 

even if it's as little as "keeps things as they are currently" as the end of the sentence. 

do you guys not have something like that?

In the voter pamphlet that the Secretary of State puts out in Washington, they try to make concise statements like that.

[engineerdoe]

Nov 6, 2018 14:49:20 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

NJ- Can the state borrow $500 million to expand vocational schools and boost security across school districts.

NO, you may not!

Funding to expand vocational schools wouldn't bother me but of the two in that issue who is going to see the lion's share? (I already know the answer and totally agree with your no vote.)

[Chocolate Lover]

Nov 6, 2018 14:34:22 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Nov 6, 2018 14:03:42 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Alabama

- 10 commandments in the courthouse
- abortion restrictions
- something about how they appoint trustees for university system. I think backstory has to do with college football.
- whether the governor can fill senate and house vacancies, which seems to be a fallout from Jeff Sessions vacated seat.

Marijuana has no shot here. We just got Sunday alcohol sales in my county 3 years ago.

as in, they want to be able to display them? yikes. 

On state property and property owned or administrated by a public school or public body. Yikes doesn't begin to cover it. Can someone please vote Roy Moore's cronies out of office??

The 2nd one also enrages me, but I don't wanna get in trouble here. 

[chiver78]

yikes was all I could come up with that wasn't #@^(@%#&#( 

and.....thank you........

[Iggy aka IG]

I am envious of those of you with a short ballot.  Ours was 3 pages long.  I joked on FB I went through several pens filling in the little boxes, LOL....

[kadee79]

Ga....


LRCA 
Amendment 1 
Budgets and Environment 
Creates a land conservation trust fund with 0.75 percent of revenue from sales and use taxes on outdoor recreation equipment 

LRCA 
Amendment 2
State judiciary 
Creates a business court and establishes procedures and rules for judicial selection, term length, and qualifications 

LRCA 
Amendment 3 
Natural Resources 
Revises method for determining market value of forest land and creates a timberland property class 

LRCA 
Amendment 4 
Law Enforcement 
Adds rights of crime victims to state constitution 

LRCA 
Amendment 5 
Education 
Allows a school district or multiple districts with a majority of students within a county to call for a county sales tax referendum 

LRSS 
Referendum A 
Taxes
Provides for a municipal property tax exemption within certain cities 

LRSS 
Referendum B 
Taxes and Housing 
Applies existing tax exemption for non-profit housing for mentally disabled to business-financed property


I voted yes on #1 & #4 & no on the rest..

#2 would make it harder for many to sue...#3 would give those who own huge acres of pines a tax break...mostly places like Weirhouser (sp?) & other corp. logging/paper companies or very large land holders.  Screws the small guy again!

[Tennesseer]

Nov 6, 2018 16:12:29 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

I am envious of those of you with a short ballot.  Ours was 3 pages long.  I joked on FB I went through several pens filling in the little boxes, LOL....

I live in the unincorporated part of Memphis so we don't vote in Memphis city elections. We vote in county elections (We also don't pay city taxes which are much higher than county taxes. Nor do we get city services-we pay separately for them (trash pickup for example).

For this November election we only had four contests to vote on: U.S. House of Rep, U.S. senator, state governor and one alderman (running uncontested).

Once in the door, out in two minutes.

But we had city and county primaries in May, city and county elections in August along with primaries for U.S. House of Rep, Senator, and governor, and then the elections now for rep, senator, governor, and alderman.

So three separate times to vote this year. They need to knock that down to two.

[Iggy aka IG]

Nov 6, 2018 16:52:24 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Nov 6, 2018 16:12:29 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

I am envious of those of you with a short ballot.  Ours was 3 pages long.  I joked on FB I went through several pens filling in the little boxes, LOL....

I live in the unincorporated part of Memphis so we don't vote in Memphis city elections. We vote in county elections (We also don't pay city taxes which are much higher than county taxes.)

For this November election we only had four contests to vote on: U.S. House of Rep, U.S. senator, state governor and one alderman (running uncontested).

Once in the door, out in two minutes.

But we had city and county primaries in May, city and county elections in August along with primaries for U.S. House of Rep, Senator, and governor, and then the elections now for rep, senator, governor, and alderman.

So three separate times to vote this year. They need to knock that down to two.

We also live in the county (I think the universe every day), and don't pay city taxes (except at the grocery store, etc.) which are about 3 times higher.  If we *did* live in one of the cities, our ballot would have been even longer.  Ridiculous.