Direct democracy delivers.

• Author: Drage, Jennifer
• Position: Voting behavior in Nov 1998 elections

Voters around the country took the initiative and passed ballot questions dealing with everything from death and taxes to marijuana and open space.

Voters' attitudes were unusually favorable toward ballot questions this November. Approximately 75 percent of the 236 measures on the ballot (both initiatives and referenda) passed. Some 61 were initiatives, generated by citizens, and they garnered their highest approval rate ever - 61 percent. The 100-year average for initiatives passing is 40 percent, with the highest rate in recent years at 50 percent in 1988, according to Dane Waters of the Initiative and Referendum Institute in Washington, D.C.

Although the number of initiatives on the ballot this year was the lowest we've seen in the '90s, the array of issues varied widely, ranging from conservative anti-abortion and anti-tax measures to liberal medical marijuana and environmental measures. And voters' ideologies varied just as much, with conservative and liberal measures alike passing in great numbers.

The most notable item was medical marijuana, on the ballot in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. It passed easily in all five states. Nevada's measure will require a second "yes" vote in the 2000 elections, a requirement of the process there.

Arizona voters were saying yes to the measure for a second time. An initiative legalizing marijuana for medical use passed in 1996, but was invalidated when the Legislature passed a law that such medical use had to be first approved by the federal government. But in November, Arizona voters rejected the Legislature's bill in a popular referendum, reaffirming their support for the practice. The issue also made it to the ballot in Colorado and Washington, D.C., but the measures there were invalidated before Election Day and the votes weren't tallied.

Term limits, the darling of the initiative movement throughout the '90s, suffered a decline in popularity this year, appearing on the ballot in only four states. Two years ago there were 15 term limits initiatives on the ballot. This year's versions were mostly watered-down measures establishing voluntary, nonbinding pledges for congressional candidates. Colorado voters approved such a measure (although the vote is so close that a recount is currently in the process) as did Idaho voters. At press time, a similar measure appears to be losing in Alaska, although absentee ballots are still being counted. Nevada passed a measure requiring the...