Ballot Measures: Voters Mostly Exercised Common Sense

Voters decided the fate of more than 150 ballot measures this week.  Ballots are still being counted in many states, but here is a summary of the results for the ones the Hotline highlighted:

Washington State was perhaps the only state where Harris outperformed Biden (Utah is flirting with the line) and the liberal undertow hurt three conservative ballot initiatives.  One initiative that did pass prohibits state and local governments from restricting access to clean natural gas.  But measures to end a carbon tax credit program, allow people to opt out of paying an existing tax that pays for long-term health care, and repeal the state’s new excise tax on capital gains over $250,000 failed.

Washington state has been dominated by progressives for so long we fear it is on track to eventually become the next Illinois – a state that stagnates, fails to attract new residents and sees its most innovative companies stop growing.

Amazingly, California voters not only voted against raising the state’s minimum wage to $18 per hour it also voted to continue blocking its cities from passing rent control laws.

Voters in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington all rejected ranked-choice voting, a scheme that complicates elections and disenfranchises some voters. Alaskans also narrowly repealed their existing ranked-choice system. The only place to pass ranked-choice? Washington D.C – the home of bureaucrats who love schemes that never work.

Voters in eight states banned non-citizen voting in elections. They are Wisconsin, Iowa, Idaho, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. The League of Women Voters and 33 left-wing groups actively opposed the measures but were ignored by voters.

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