So Obama is the next president. But what about the various ballot measures? Is prop 8 going to pass and thus give a bittersweet tinge to the whole evening?
It’s tough to say at this point, but things don’t look good. The numbers from the various sites don’t match up, but all of them seem to put it at about 53/47 in the wrong direction. There’s still over half the precincts yet to report, but from looking over the maps, some of the big pro-equality areas have already reported. San Francisco is at 98% for example. That said, a decent chunk of the rest of the Bay Area is still out.
I was holding out hope because Los Angeles County hadn’t reported much yet. But they’re now up to 37% of precincts and are actually voting yes at a 54/46 rate. Basically, if you ever needed any more proof that LA sucks, this would be it.
On a brighter note, prop 2 is definitely going to pass. I know it’s a partial measure, but anything we can do to reduce the sheer horror of factory farms is a good thing. It’s the sort of thing that people want to just ignore, but once they’re forced to actually pay attention to the torture that is daily inflicted on millions of sentient beings people tend to get really uncomfortable. It’s the main reason why I’m doing my best to go vegan. But the reality is that while individual dietary choices are important, this is an area where the government absolutely has to step in and regulate these places. Failure to do so is really just a massive subsidy in favor of despicable practices.
Prop 4 is tough to figure out. CNN says the yes side is up 52/48. But the CA Secretary of State page says exactly the reverse: 48/52. The SOS page has been horrible all night, with pages failing to load and results not showing up. So I’m not sure why to treat as more indicative.
Prop 1A (high speed rail) is looking like it’ll be super close. Right now the yes side is up marginally, but it could still easily fail.
Elsewhere in the nation, we’ve got yet more gay marriage bans in Florida and Arizona (depressing), failed abortion bans in South Dakota and Colorado (encouraging), support for medical marijuana, and a resounding defeat for the attempt to eliminate Massachusetts’ income tax.
All in all, a mixed bag.