Al Ortiz/2011 ballot measure election review

Al Ortiz

Al Ortiz, Senior Staff Writer and Analyst State Ballot Measure News Desk Ballotpedia

Contact:
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Al Ortiz

Overview

• What happened on November 8?
  • Approval rating and margins
  • Quick statistics and notable election night developments
  • Comparison to 2009 results
• 2011 summary
  • Election results breakdown
  • Election analysis
  • Campaign contributions
• A look at 2012
  • 2011 impact on 2012
  • 2012 issues on the ballot

Election results

For full details on the percentage of voters in support or opposition, see 2011 ballot measure election results.

November 8 election summary (real-time; subject to change)
State	Approved	Defeated	Unresolved
Arkansas	Arkansas Retail Project Question (2011)	None	None
Maine	Maine Redistricting Measure, Question 4 (2011) Maine Same-Day Registration Veto Referendum, Question 1 (2011)	Maine Slot Machine Facility Initiative, Question 3 (2011) Maine Racino Initiative, Question 2 (2011)	None
Mississippi	Mississippi Voter Identification Amendment, Initiative 27 (2011) Mississippi Eminent Domain Amendment, Initiative 31 (2011)	Mississippi Initiative 26, Definition of Person Amendment (2011)	None
New Jersey	New Jersey Sports Betting Amendment, Public Question 1 (2011)	None	None
Ohio	Ohio Issue 3, State Cannot Compel Healthcare Participation Amendment (2011)	Ohio Issue 1, Increase Judicial Retirement Age and Eliminate Governor's Power to Appoint Supreme Court Commission Amendment (2011)	None
Texas	Texas Education Loans Finance Amendment, Proposition 3 (2011) Texas Proposition 10, Automatic Resignation Term Length Amendment (2011) Texas Survivor of Veterans Homestead Tax Amendment, Proposition 1 (2011) Texas Governor's Pardon Amendment, Proposition 9 (2011) Texas Interlocal Contracts Amendment, Proposition 5 (2011) Texas Water Development Bonds Amendment, Proposition 2 (2011) Texas Proposition 6, Permanent School Fund Amendment (2011)	Texas Water-Stewardship Tax Amendment, Proposition 8 (2011) Texas County Redevelopment Bond Amendment, Proposition 4 (2011) Texas Proposition 7, Conservation and Reclamation Districts in El Paso County Amendment (2011)	None
Washington	Washington Voter Residency Requirement Amendment, SJR 8205 (2011) Washington Budget Stabilization Account Amendment, SJR 8206 (2011) Washington Liquor State Licensing, Initiative 1183 (2011) Washington Long-Term Care, Initiative 1163 (2011)	Washington Transportation, Initiative 1125 (2011)	None

November 8

On the ballot

• 9 citizen initiatives
• 16 legislative referrals
• 2 veto referendums

Quick facts

Note: Results are still not official. The following is information from preliminary results.

• Measure that won by the most votes: Arkansas Retail Project Question (81.8%)
• Measure that lost by the most votes: Maine Question 3 (63%)
• Measure with the smallest turnout: Arkansas Retail Project Question (72,102)
• Measure with the largest turnout: Ohio Issue 2 (3,497,408)

The stats

The table below highlights the approval rating of all the measures that appeared on November 8 ballots as they stand today.

• Approval rating in 2009 is estimated at 81%

November 8 election stats
Total	Approved (%)	Defeated (%)
27	18 (67%)	9 (33%)

Results breakdown

Statistical summary

The charts below includes all election results including November 8. Some of the measures included are currently considered very close and may change results subject to official election counts.

2011 election stats
Total	Approved (%)	Defeated (%)
34	22 (65%)	12 (35%)

Initiated measures

Type of ballot measure	How many on ballot?	How many won?	How many lost?
initiated state statute	6	2	4
initiated constitutional amendment	4	3	1
Veto referendum	2	1	1
Total	12	6	6

Legislative referrals

Type of ballot measure	How many on ballot?	How many won?	How many lost?
legislatively referred state statute	1	1	0
legislatively referred constitutional amendment	22	14	6
Total	23	15	6

Notable 2011 developments

Texas residents defeat three out of 10 ballot measures:

• Altogether, Texans have voted on 162 proposed constitutional amendments since 1989, prior to 2011's election. Of those 162, 89.5% of the constitutional amendments they've been asked to consider since 1989.

• More recently, in the past decade not including 2011, 76 out of 78 Texas ballot measures have passed, leaving only 2.6% measures defeated. Three defeated measures on one ballot is highly unusual in Texas given the state's recent history.

Issue 2 was defeated by Ohio voters, repealing Senate Bill 5:

• Senate Bill 5 will not become a law, scoring a victory of unions. SB 5 would have limited collective bargaining for public employees.
• Issue 3, the health care freedom amendment, was approved, showing opposition of the new federal health care law.

Two of three Mississippi measures approved:

• The most controversial measure, Initiative 26, the personhood amendment, was the only one of three Republican-backed measures to be defeated.

Maine's Question 1 approved by voters:

• Question 1 was a veto referendum that will now overturn a same-day registration repeal signed into law during state legislative session.
• The measure was backed mostly by Democratic Party supporters.

2011 Analysis

2011 ballot measures

Tuesday Count • 2011 Scorecard

Potential measures • Filed initiatives

Polls • Campaign websites • News

Calendar • 2011 local measures

Issues on the ballot

See also: Chart of 2011 ballot measure issues

• All ballot measures are assigned at least one issue category.

• The chart below highlights the issues scheduled to appear on 2011's ballot.

• Taxes ranked as the most popular issue with a total of 8 measures. The same is true for 2009, when 8 measures also appeared in the category.

Top Issues	# measures per issue
Taxes	8
State budgets	6
Administration of government	4
Healthcare	3
Gambling	3
Elections and campaigns	3

Citizen initiative changes

See also: Chart of 2011 ballot measure changes

• 2011 features 4 more initiatives than 2009
• Maine featured less initiatives (2) on their 2011 ballot than 2009
• Colorado, Mississippi, Ohio and Washington all saw initiatives increases on their 2011 ballots
• Of the five states, Colorado and Mississippi did not have initiatives on the 2009 ballot.

	# of initiatives in 2009	# of initiatives in 2011	Change between the two years
Totals:	8	12	+4

Legislative referral changes

See also: Chart of 2011 ballot measure changes

• 2011 has two less referrals on the ballot than 2009.

• California (-6) and Louisiana (+6) had the most significant changes in the number legislative referrals on the ballot.

• Three did not have legislative referrals on the ballot in 2009, but did in 2011. The states include: Arkansas, Louisiana, and Washington.

	# of referrals in 2009	# of referrals in 2011	Change between the two years
Totals:	24	22	-2

Ballot measure researchers

•

Al Ortiz • Bailey Ludlam

Initiative activity

See also: Chart of 2011 initiative activity

Like 2010, the percentage of filed initiatives certified for the ballot in 2011 was around 8%. 2010 saw 8.42% of the 606 filed initiatives make the ballot, compared to 8.76% in 2011.

	# of initiatives proposed	# initiatives certified in 2010	% certified
Totals:	137	12	8.76%

• Of the 5 initiative & referendum states on the ballot, Washington had the most filed initiatives at 80.
• Maine had the highest percentage of filed initiatives certified for the ballot at 50%.
• The lowest percentage of filed initiatives to make the ballot was Colorado at 3%, with one certified initiative out of 36.

Campaign contributions

• The following are the rankings for pre-election contributions made, both by supporting and opposing campaigns, towards each ballot measure on special, primary and general election ballots in 2011.

• Post election final numbers will be updated as soon as reports are filed.

#	Measure	Amount
1	Washington Initiative 1183	$34,412,103.09
2	Ohio Issue 2	$4,965,668.89
3	Washington Initiative 1125	$3,676,222.85
4	Washington Initiative 1163	$1,770,904.56
5	Colorado Proposition 103	$432,052.87
6	Maine Question 1	$261,605.84
7	Ohio Issue 3	$162,219.36
8	Maine Question 3	$149,069.95
9	Maine Question 2	$129,293.78
10	Mississippi Initiative 26	$48,885.67
11	Mississippi Initiative 27	$16,875

Measures throughout the years

The chart below highlights the numbers of measures that appeared on the ballot from 2000 through 2010. This includes all citizen initiatives (initiated state statutes, initiated constitutional amendments and veto referendums) , legislative referrals (legislatively referred constitutional amendments and legislatively referred state statutes), and advisory measures.

Legend      Highest in the category

Year	Initiatives	Legislative referrals	Other measures	TOTAL
2011	12	22	0	34
2010	50	130	4	184
2009	8	24	0	32
2008	74	92	8	174
2007	4	39	1	44
2006	83	140	3	226
2005	19	26	0	45
2004	65	107	1	173
2003	7	60	1	68
2002	55	162	6	223
2001	4	35	0	39
2000	82	151	2	235

A look at 2012

The following are issues that were on the ballot in 2011 that will largely resurface in 2012:

Abortion

2011 measure: Mississippi Initiative 26, Definition of Person Amendment (2011)

Status: Defeated, 58% to 42%

Certified 2012 measures: 2

Proposed 2012 measures: 8

"Healthcare freedom" amendments

• 2011 measure: Ohio Healthcare Amendment, Issue 3 (2011)

• Status: Approved, 66% to 34%

• 2012 certified measures: 4

• 2012 proposed measures: 4 (three others deal with other topics of health care)

Voter Identification

• 2011 measure: Mississippi Voter Identification Amendment, Initiative 27 (2011)

• Status: Approved, 62% to 38%

• 2012 certified measures: 2

• 2012 proposed measures: 1

Labor issues

• 2011 measure: Ohio Senate Bill 5 Veto Referendum, Issue 2 (2011)

• Status: Defeated, 61% to 39%

• Anti-union measures to keep an eye on for 2012: California Proposition 32, Ban on Political Contributions from Payroll Deductions Initiative (2012) and California Government Employee Pension Reform Act Initiative (2012)

Taxes and bond issues

Ballotpedia's categorization of tax measures includes tax exemptions, tax increases and other various tax issues. Therefore, the following measures are not limited to a certain tax issue.

2011	Approved	Defeated	Approval margin (%)	Defeat margin (%)
Totals	5	4	25.95%	14.38%

Local tax and bond issues

Type of school finance measure	Number of elections	Number of approvals	% approved
Bonds	66	83	44.3%
Taxes, tax levies	227	82	73.4%
Totals:	293	165	63.9%

2012

• There are currently 13 tax measures and 1 bond measure on the 2012 ballot.

See also

• 2011 ballot measures

Ballotpedia articles

• Citizen initiatives increase in 2011's odd-year ballot
• Like 2009, tax issues dominate 2011 ballot measures once again
• Initiative activity in 2011 produces small percentage of certified proposals
• Pre-election campaign contributions top $40 million for 2011 ballot measures
• Breakdown: Ballotpedia dissects lawsuits challenging 2011 and 2012 ballot measures

The Breakdown series

• Arkansas and Colorado measures
• Louisiana and Maine measures
• Mississippi and New Jersey measures
• Ohio and Texas measures
• Washington measures
• All states

Map

What's on your ballot in 2012? Click on your state to find out.