Ballot Measures
As this is an off year election which normally means low voter turn out, it is a prime opportunity to sneak bad ideas onto the ballots.
In Washington state there is Referendum 71 which is a law already passed by the state legislature, but opponents of the law have put it on the ballot in order to defeat it. Referendum 71 extends some rights already given to married couples, to people who have domestic partnerships. It isn’t a “gay marriage law”, it simply covers issues like probate that are already given to married couples.
A “yes” vote means the extra rights are extended to a new group of people. A “no” vote IMHO means that you want to discriminate.
In the state of Maine, there is Question 1, which is an attempt to repeal the existing law on same-sex marriages. A “yes” vote IMHO means that you want to discriminate. A “no” vote means you want all of the income generated by marriages, or you don’t think that the state should tell people who they can marry.
Maine also has Question 4. Before anyone considers voting “yes” on Question 4, they should take a good, hard look at the shape the state of California is in. Look at the mess that has been created by tying the hands of the legislature when attempting to fashion a budget, and ask yourself “Is this what I want for Maine?”
If you have elections tomorrow, vote. Let the politicians know you are paying attention.
2 comments
I’ve already voted. We have a Texan spending millions of dollars trying to get Republicans voted into City positions and to vote to establish a building height law that (gasp) already exists.
The spending helps the economy, whether the individual knows it or not, and the more money they waste, the less they will have to spend on something equally stupid later.
Too bad you can’t tax political ads. That would really reduce the budget deficit.