Referenda

2004 Vote | Voters this year are faced with a bewildering variety of state constitutional questions | The Editors

Marriage, marijuana, and the minimum wage. Or maybe gays, gambling, and game. However you look at it, voters this year are faced with a bewildering variety of state constitutional questions. In Florida alone, voters will wade through eight different amendments ranging from slot machines to high-speed rail.

Ballot initiatives have exploded in recent years as state legislators—wary of casting votes on controversial tax increases or divisive social issues—have essentially decided to "punt," allowing voters to decide for themselves at the ballot box.

Other issues, including same-sex marriage, find their way onto the statewide ballot for reasons that are more practical than pragmatic. Responding to the liberal mantra that marriage should be decided at the state level, family activists across the country pushed for state constitutional amendments to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. With broad popular support, such measures would likely have passed as simple statutes, but enshrining them in state constitutions may provide extra protection against being forced to recognize court-made unions from states such as Massachusetts.