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Eight Ballot Measures Including Same Sex Marriage Already Lined up for November California Ballot—The Big Kahuna of Elections
By Frank D. Russo
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified four ballot measures for the November 4, 2008 California General Election ballot, bringing the total of propositions Californians will be voting on to 8, with more time left for additional items to make it to the ballot either through signatures or action by the legislature.
The last measure to be certified is going to probably be the biggest of all battles: A California Constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union “between a man and a woman” and perhaps overturn the California Supreme Court decision earlier this month that forbids discrimination against same sex couples that wish to marry. But there are other ballot propositions that will be hotly contested and are important in their own right.
The first seven propositions to qualify for the November ballot were a high-speed rail bond, a measure relating to the treatment of farm animals, a children’s hospital bond, a parental notification for abortion measure, a measure involving the sentencing of nonviolent offenders, a measure regarding increased criminal penalties and public safety funding, and a renewable energy measure.
These measures will share the limelight with the historic election between Democrat Barack Obama, who has been just wrapped up the nomination according to AP’s breaking analysis and Republican John McCain as well as Congressional and state Assembly and Senate races where the Democrats hope to pick up additional seats.
November’s election should break a number of turnout records, that’s for sure.
Senator Art Torres. Chair of the California Democratic Party, left no doubt that the party would be heavily involved in defeating the marriage constitutional amendment. He said:
"Last month, the California Supreme Court made a momentous decision that took our state and nation a giant step forward in our long march toward true equality for all our citizens. Now, a divisive and discriminatory proposed constitutional amendment threatens to take away the right of marriage equality for same-sex couples. We now must focus our energy on fighting this initiative in order to protect the civil right of marriage equality and to ensure that justice and equality prevail. I have no doubt that working together, voters will reject this change to our state's constitution and that Californians will choose to be on the right side of history."
Polls show that California Democrats and independent voters will defeat this measure and vote overwhelmingly against it despite Republicans in California who will vote for it. Expect the eyes of the nation to be on California’s vote on this issue.
Today, the table gets set for November with the nomination of candidates for partisan races and local races that may result in runoffs in the Fall. One election at a time. Get out and vote. We’ll be reporting on the results of today’s election—along with our friends from Calitics and beyond—when they are known.
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