As the Harris/Walz campaign keeps reminding me, there are a dwindling number of days before the results of the November election will be known. I've made my decisions regarding the humans, but my choices on Propositions must be made before then.
That would be a lot easier if I knew what the choices were about.
My decision about the access to abortion initiative (meaning it was driven by the citizenry not the legislatures on the ballot, though I have no idea what the initiative's name or number might be has been made for a long time. (As TBG told the AFL-CIO pollster who rang our bell, reproductive rights is an easy problem to fix. It takes a vote and a signature, costs nothing, and affects a significant portion of the population immediately. There are many more pressing issues, climate change chief among them, but only this one rings all three bells)
Is there more? I do not know.
I will admit that I've skipped reading the local paper for the past few days; there might have been mentions that I missed. If anyone is running for a local office, they haven't reached out to me. I know that my County Supervisor is up for reelection only because I've seen his roadside signs and I recognize his name.
If there's a school board vacancy to be filled I can find no mention of it on the interwebs. A bond issue and an over-ride for our school district are on the ballot, but no one has reached out to assuage my fears of educational spending run amok. Our schools should be palaces and I'm not an old fogey who refuses to invest in the future but I don't think it's asking too much to be courted for my vote. Or asked for my vote. Or even just telling me that there is going to be a vote.
Even more surprising is that ranked voting and life imprisonment for child sex traffickers and reducing the minimum wage for tipped workers are also on the ballot. There are several propositions designed to undercut the power of the Governor (a Democrat) by the legislature (Republican).
I have so many questions. Is a tipped worker anyone behind a counter with a tip jar? Allowing property owners to apply for a tax refund if the municipality doesn't enforce laws regulating all sorts of behavior related to poverty and encampments leads me down the rabbit hole of defining enforcement. There are so many arguments on so many sides of the ranked voting decision; I'd love to hear them explored in the context of our purpling state and radicalized politics.
I may have to join the League of Women Voters.
Let me make some of it easier for you! I ALWAYS vote the opposite way (which is usually no) on any initiative put forth by the Arizona legislature, or anything supported by Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy. (Yes, I'm that person who reads through, at least skims through, the arguments in the booklet.) Most of the initiatives put forth by we the people get a yes vote from me. I've read lots of stories about the tip initiative and I find it very confusing - but bottom line is that the restaurant industry wants it and got the legislature to put it on the ballot so even if there are good parts in it, I'll have to vote no.
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you thank you. You've validated what I was going to do. The legislature as author is a NO from me, I agree about the tipping vote, and I, too, read the arguments (every word). I just wish I had something to read. Perhaps it is coming.
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You have some complex issues to sort through, even more than we have here. In our case, conservative citizens are trying to undo good Democratic legislation. I'll be a "no" vote.
ReplyDeleteWe sure could use some "good Democratic legislation" here in Arizona. I decided to vote no on everything the legislature put on the ballot.
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