Did Ballot Measures Send a Message?

Nov. 8, 2006:
Rounding up the ballot measures, post-Election Day.

In recent years, ballot initiatives have become a key part of the Election Day calculus, with both parties maneuvering to pack ballots with hot-button issues designed to frame the debate and drive voters to the polls. Yesterday, 205 propositions in 37 states were put to the public. In several contests, social conservatives suffered significant defeats: in South Dakota, voters rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions; Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage, and Missouri approved a measure backing stem-cell research...