Ok, I forgot one of the things I noticed in the elections last night: The role of ballot initiatives in turning out voters. Did ballot initiatives calling for higher minimum wages rally Democrats to vote?
In the past, same-sex marriage ballot initiatives turned out social conservatives. But last night, some analysts say that the Democrats turned out in several states to vote for higher minimum wages. It's hard to tease out what role the ballot measures played with an energised Democratic base and a 'throw-the-bums-out' feeling amongst independents. But I just Googled myself this lovely statistic:
The Economist reports,
"Daniel Smith of the University of Florida and Caroline Tolbert of Kent
State University have looked at voting patterns from 1980-2002, and
estimate that mid-term turnout goes up by an average of 1.7% for each
initiative on the ballot."
Many bloggers followed the initiatives including Gerald at The Cafeteria is Closed blog, which won the best new blog in the 2006 Catholic Blog Awards. PajamasMedia also has a good 'Day After' round-up not only of the ballot initiatives but also just generally of day-after blogging and MSM coverage.
Arizona was a really interesting state last night. They voted to make English the official language of business for state government, but they punished anti-immigration candidates including Randy Graf, a member of the anti-immigration group the Minutemen. Democrat Gabrielle Giffords ended 22-years of Republican control in that district.
Arizona voters also defeated a ban on same-sex marriage. It was the only of eight states considering such a ban that defeated it. Voters in Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin all voted to ban same-sex marriage.
South Dakota defeated a measure that would have banned abortion in almost all cases.
And of course, there were the stem cell research measures that Michael J Fox championed. One blogger said that the Missouri candidate for Senate, Claire McCaskill, was helped by her support of the issue. That's just a quick rundown of the ballot initiatives.
I'm off to find out if my home state of Illinois voted to pull troops out of Iraq.
