Any interesting local referendums or the like this cycle?
Illinois has two proposed constitutional amendments. One is a spiel about not denying anyone the right to register to vote or cast a ballot based on gender, race, sexual orientation, language, income, ethnicity, etc. While I’m not opposed to it, I’m not strongly for it either since existing law already grants these protections. The other one is a lengthy bit about “crime victims rights” that boils down to a right not to be harassed or abused during the criminal justice proceeding, gives the victim greater opportunities to make statements during trials, plea bargains, parole hearings and the like and the right for greater levels of information regarding the criminal’s release or other status changes. It’s a lot of text and frankly I haven’t slogged through it yet to have an opinion on it. Although it sounds on the surface more like stock legislature than something that needs to be codified into the state constitution.
Failing to make the ballot was a term limit amendment. I’m opposed to term limits so I would have voted against it anyway. Nothing at the local level on our ballot this cycle that I know of.
The big news in the SoW is that we have two mutually exclusive gun rights initiatives on the same ballot: Initiative 591 would prohibit background checks that exceed Federal standards, and Initiative 594 would mandate background checks for all firearms transactions except for antiques and transfers between “immediate family members” (quotes included because there’s some controversy regarding the definition of “immediate”).
Last I looked, the polls indicated that both measures would pass if the election were held now, which probably has any number of lawyers drooling. There was mention in another thread about a provision that requires the Secretary of State to produce a ballot which allows the voter to reject both or approve one, but not approve both; based on the last time we tried to deviate from the norm — ranked choice voting for county offices — I predict that any such ballot will produce “hanging-chad”-level chaos.
Repealing the casino authorization law (I support repeal, the whole thing has been a mass of corruption and the economic gains will be illusory)
Removing inflation indexing from the gas tax (I’m against it, the system is good governance)
Expanding deposits to include water bottles (I’m for that too, they’re bulky litter and disposable plastics waste oil)
And would be the first state to guarantee paid sick leave (I’m for it, and I’m proud of my state for almost always being out ahead while a scoffing nation gradually catches up).
How is this possible? It would require at least some people to vote for both, and I can’t imagine the voter who would do that, especially with guns being as polarizing an issue as they are. About the only attitude that would lead to voting for both would be “automatically vote yes on all ballot initiatives”, and I had understood the reverse of that attitude to be considerably more common.
I live in Illinois, though I’m not registered to vote yet (I may have missed the deadline, for all I know), so thanks for making me aware of the ballot questions.
I don’t really have an opinion about the first one. I’m strongly against the second one, though, so if I do manage to register, I’ll vote against it. Criminal justice is supposed to be a matter between the State and the defendant, not between the defendant and the victim. That’s feudal law, not modern industrialized-world law, and I’m not interested in furthering this ‘victim’s rights’ business.