On the Off-Year Election
The November 2007 election was an off-year election. Only a few states had legislative or gubernatorial races on the ballot. A few more states had statewide ballot measures, as had a number of cities and counties across America.
Still, I detected a clear message from voters on taxes: We pay enough already.
Washington state voters passed I-960, the Taxpayer Protection Act, which will make it tougher for legislators to raise taxes without voter input. Voters there also defeated a measure referred by legislators to reduce the super-majority requirements for passing school levies to a simple majority.
Meanwhile, voters in Oregon crushed an 84-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes that would have funded health care for kids. Voters like health care and kids better than they like cigarettes, but they saw this as an unfair tax attack on smokers.
Voters sent the message elsewhere, too. I wonder if those running for office in 2008 might possibly hear it.
And speaking of receiving voter messages — When it comes to ballot measures there’s no better place to get information than Ballotpedia. It’s just like Wikipedia, except for ballot stuff.
Ballotpedia.org is not the work of some expert in Washington, DC. It is a collaborative effort of hundreds and someday thousands of local political experts in communities across America, adding their unique and valuable knowledge.
No wonder the wiki resource is called “The Encyclopedia of Citizen-Powered Democracy.â€
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
