Politics

Voters Sound Off On Referenda

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 4, 1998 / 2:17 AM EST / CBS

Voters faced explosive ballot questions in some states Tuesday, with issues ranging from assisted suicide to the medical use of marijuana. Also, some states moved to protect wildlife.

Here are some results:

Michigan voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made theirs the second state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The measure would have allowed doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication for some terminally ill patients wishing to kill themselves.
In Colorado, a proposal requiring parental notification and a two-day waiting period for minors seeking abortions was approved. A similar measure was scrapped by the legislature only a few months ago.
Washington state voters said "no" to initiative 694, which would have made it a felony to kill a fetus in the "process of birth" (after the fetus has entered the birth canal), except when such a procedure is necessary to save the pregnant woman's life.
Voters in Washington also passed an affirmative action initiative: to prohibit state and local governments from discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting.
Voters in Arizona, Nevada and Washington state approved the medical use of marijuana, which advocates say can help ease pain and nausea for some sick people. Early returns in Oregon indicated medical marijuana would pass there, too, but the vote in Washington, D.C., might never be known. Election officials opted to keep results under cover because Congress, which controls the capital's budget, opposes legalization and cut funding for the initiative after it appeared on the ballot.
California voters were rejecting a 50-cent-a-pack increase in the state cigarette tax, championed by actor-director Rob Reiner. The tobacco industry coughed up $30 million to oppose the measure, claiming there were no controls over where the $700 million in annual taxes would have gone.
Hawaii moved closer to banning same-sex marriage, giving state lawmakers the go-ahead to write a new law.
Alaskans voted a gay-marriage ban into their constitution.
South Carolina erased the state's 103-year-old constitutional ban on interracial marriage.
The Denver Broncos will get a new football stadium. Voters in the Denver area agreed to raise sales taxes to pay for the new $350 million stadium.
The San Diego Padres will get a new ballpark.
Florida voters approved a measure allowing the state to continuexecuting murderers by other means if its notoriously balky electric chair is banned. Twice in 10 years, flames have erupted from prisoners' heads during executions in the chair.
Voters in Oregon elected to make their state only the third to give adoptive children the right to seek out their natural parents by obtaining copies of their birth certificates after they turn 21.
Nebraska voters turned down an initiative to limit tax revenue hikes by the state and local governments.
In South Dakota, amendment A failed. It would have prohibited using property taxes for public education.
California voters gave Indian tribes the right to have gambling (Las Vegas-style slot machines) in casinos on their reservations.
Missouri voters approved the so-called boats in moats issue, legalizing slot machines on casinos floating in artificial basins; previously slot machines were restricted to riverboat casinos on Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Cockfights were banned in Missouri and Arizona.
Bear wrestling also was banned in Missouri.
California approved a ban on body-gripping steel traps to capture fur-bearing animals
California outlawed the sale or export of horses intended to be slaughtered for human consumption.
Alaskans rejected a ban on wolf snares.
Ohioans turned back a ban on the hunting of mourning doves.
Minnesota became only the second state in the nation to pass constitutional protections for hunting and fishing.
Nebraskans vetoed a proposal to limit the amount of money state and local governments could raise through taxes.
Coloradans said "no" to income-tax credit for parents of school-age children.
South Dakota voters tightened restrictions on corporate farming.
Oregon rejected limits on clearcutting (removing all of the trees in a tract of timber at the same time).
Montana approved a ban on cyanide in new gold mining projects.
Iowa and Florida became the first states in 22 years to pass measures acknowledging women's equality, while New Hampshire rejected an effort to add female pronouns to its constitution.
Oregon became the first state to abolish the voting booth as voters approved a measure mandating mail ballots for all future elections. Already, about 60 percent of the state's ballots are cast by mail.