Conservative ideas on the ballot
November 9, 2006| By Nathaniel Ward
Conservative policies fared relatively well on Tuesday’s ballot:
- Voters in Michigan voted to repeal racial preferences and similar affirmative action programs at the University of Michigan and in other state entities. In a statement, the university said it would continue its diversity agenda in any case.
- Laws to define marriage as between a man and a woman passed in Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. A similar measure in Arizona failed to win. Click here to visit The Heritage Foundation’s website on state efforts to protect traditional marriage.
- Arizona declared English the state’s official language and cut funding for publication of materials in other languages.
- California voters rejected four measures to impose harmful taxes on businesses, energy production and more.
Some liberal ballot propositions did pass:
- Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio all passed measures to increase the minimum wage and then continue to raise it each year. Though minimum wage hikes hurt the working poor, Colorado and Ohio went so far as to add this policy to their state constitutions.
- Washington voters rejected an initiative to repeal the state’s death tax.
- Other successful measures that conservatives opposed included a Missouri measure that would remove most legal obstacles to embryonic stem cell research and a South Dakota initiative to block most abortions.
CNN.com provides complete coverage of these and other election results.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
