Ballot Proposition Roundup (Partial)

…at all levels voters considered nearly a thousand referenda and initiatives on the November ballot.

Same-sex marriage bans passed in California , Arizona and Florida got a lot of attention and bring to 30 the number of states with prohibitions in their constitutions to block same-sex unions. A Connecticut judge decreed same sex marriage OK there. Voters in Arkansas stopped adoptions of children by homosexuals.

Voters in Colorado and South Dakota rejected sweeping bans on abortion that could have tested Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that provided women seeking abortions with legal protections. A third abortion measure — requiring doctors to notify parents of minors before performing the procedure — failed in California .

Washington became only the second state after Oregon to allow doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Michigan lifted a 30-year ban on stem-cell research. Nebraska agreed to ban affirmative action. President-elect Obma is expected the end the ban on human fetal stem cell research by executive order as soon as he takes office January 20th .

Massachusetts rejected a plan to eliminate the state's income tax, a proposal that could have cut the state's budget by more than 40%. North Dakotans declined to cut the state's personal income tax in half and reduce the corporate income tax by 15%, moves that would have slashed the state's budget by about 17%. In Oregon , a proposal to allow residents to deduct federal taxes from their state income tax returns failed; the measure would have trimmed the state's budget by about $1 billion. Coloradans refused to create a savings account for public schools that would have used money otherwise returned to residents as rebates under the state's landmark Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Voters in Massachusetts and Michigan relaxed penalties for the possession and use of marijuana. Massachusetts became the first state to decriminalize the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana via ballot initiative, while Michigan became the 13th state — and first in the Great Lakes or Midwest — to sign off on use of the drug for medical purposes.

Washington voters easily approved - by a 58.7%t to 41.3% margin - a "death with dignity" law modeled on Oregon 's, which took effect in 1997. More than 340 patients have taken lethal prescriptions in the decade since Oregon 's law was enacted. Some think doctor-assisted suicide is "something that could be coming down the pike in other states" after Washington 's approval.

South Dakota voters rejected a proposal to repeal legislative term limits. Colorado rejected a plan to lower age limits for those serving in the General Assembly. Perhaps most significantly, Californians were considering giving redistricting authority to an independent commission instead of the state Legislature, a proposal that has failed five times before in the Golden State . With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the proposal was ahead by the narrowest of margins.

California became the latest state to approve a measure requiring more humane conditions for farm animals. But the proposal would not go into effect until 2015. Similar proposals won approval in Florida in 2002 and Arizona in 2006.

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