The Voter’s Speakeasy

Summary and Results of 2009 Environment/Energy Ballot Measures:

New Jersey

The Public Question on the 2009 New Jersey Ballot was passed on November 3rd, also known as the Green Acres, Water Supply and Floodplain Protection, and Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 2009, if you don’t prefer brevity. The measure authorizes the State to issue bonds in the amount of $400 million to provide moneys for (1) the acquisition and development of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including lands that protect water supplies, (2) the preservation of farmland for agricultural or horticultural use and production, (3) the acquisition, for recreation and conservation purposes, of properties that are prone to or have incurred flood or storm damage, and (4) funding historic preservation projects; and providing the ways and means to pay the interest on the debt and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof, with full public disclosure of all spending.

The initiative also funds park improvements and facilities. Of the total sum authorized: (1) $218 million will be used for Green Acres; (2) $146 million will be used for farmland preservation purposes; (3) $24 million will be used for the “Blue Acres” program by which the State may purchase from willing sellers, for open space preservation purposes, properties that are prone to or have incurred flood or storm damage; and (4) $12 million will be used for historic preservation purposes. All spending of the authorized bond proceeds will be subject to full public disclosure.

New Jersey citizens passed similar legislation by voting Yes on Public Question 3 in the 2007 General Election. Related ballot measures in other states include:

• Florida: Constitutional Amendment 4 (2008) – Requires Legislature to provide a property tax exemption for real property encumbered by perpetual conservation easements or other perpetual conservation protections, defined by general law.
• Maine: Question 4-Bond Issue (2007) – A $35,500,000 bond issue to invest in land conservation, water access, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation opportunities, including hunting and fishing, farmland and working waterfront and to invest in state parks, historic sites and riverfront, community and farm infrastructure to be matched by at least $21,875,000 in private and public contributions.
• Ohio: Issue 2 (2008) – Authorizing the state to issue up to $200,000,000 of bonds for conservation and preservation of natural areas, open spaces and farmlands and other lands devoted to agriculture, including by acquiring land or interests in land; provision of state and local park and recreation facilities, and other actions that permit and enhance the availability, public use and enjoyment of natural areas in the state; and land, forest, water and other natural resource management projects.

Maine

On November 3rd, Question 2 – Citizen Initiative, a Maine ballot measure to Decrease the Automobile Excise Tax and Promote Energy, failed to pass.

This bill aimed to decrease the excise tax imposed on motor vehicles for the first year from 24 mills** to 12 mills, for the 2nd year from 17 1/2 mills to 8 mills and for the 3rd year from 13 1/2 mills to 4 mills and imposes a 4 mills rate for the 4th and succeeding years.  This bill would have also exempted from the excise tax imposed on motor vehicles the first 3 model years of a hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle, a fuel-cell-fueled or hydrogen-fueled vehicle or a highly energy efficient vehicle that has a highway fuel economy estimate of at least 40 miles to the gallon.

• **PVS Fun Fact – When referring to taxation, a “mill” is equivalent to one-tenth of a cent ($0.001). Therefore the “mill rate” is the tax per dollar of assessed value of property (i.e. 24 mills).

New York

On November 3rd, voters in New York passed Proposal 1-Constitutional Amendment, an amendment to section 1 of article 14 of the Constitution, in relation to the use of certain forest preserve lands by National Grid to construct a 46 kV power line along State Route 56 in St. Lawrence County. The bill authorizes the Legislature to convey up to six acres of forest preserve land along State Route 56 in St. Lawrence County to National Grid for construction of a power line. In exchange, National Grid will convey to the State at least 10 acres of forest land in St. Lawrence County, to be incorporated into the forest preserve. The land to be conveyed by National Grid to the State must be at least equal in value to the land conveyed to National Grid by the State.

The ballot measure passed with a necessary two-thirds majority vote. For a detailed reading of Proposal 1, visit the official elections page of the state of New York by clicking here.

-Stefan Johansson, Research

Follow Up on the Results of the 2009 General Election:

The New Jersey State Assembly will hardly change in composition as a result of the election (see our winner’s list). Incumbents ran for re-election in 72 of the 80 seats up for election, winning all of these races. Of the eight open seats, seven were won by a member of the same political party as the incumbent. In District 4, unofficial election results seem to indicate that Republican Dominick DiCicco won an open seat formerly held by a Democrat (freshman Assembly Member Sandra Love). As a result, once the newly-elected officials are sworn in, the party composition of the Assembly will change from 48 Democrats-32 Republicans to 47 Democrats-33 Republicans. While the Democrats will still hold a majority in the Assembly, New Jersey will be losing two key Democratic officials: Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, who withdrew from the 2009 election, and Governor Jon Corzine, who lost his seat to Republican Chris Christie.

The Virginia House of Delegates had more turnover than the New Jersey State Assembly, but incumbents running for reelection were still victorious 89% of the time (see our winner’s list).  Eight of the Democratic incumbents lost their seats to Republican candidate (Districts 3, 21, 23, 32, 34, 51, 67, and 83), while only one of the Republican incumbents lost their seat to a Democrat (District 93). In addition, one Democratic incumbent lost in the primary election, but the seat was ultimately retained by a Democrat. Of the ten open seats, only one switched to a different party than that of the incumbent: District 52 went from Republican (Jeffrey Frederick) to Democrat (Luke Torian). Though some recounts are still pending, as the results stand now, it appears that Republicans will have a net gain of six seats in the House of Delegates, changing the party composition from 53 Republicans-43 Democrats-2 Independents-2 Vacant Democratic Seats to 59 Republicans-39 Democrats-2 Independents.

Virginia statewide elections also went in favor of the Republican party.  The open Gubernatorial seat, currently held by term-limited Democrat Tim Kaine was handily won by Republican Bob McDonnell with nearly 59% of the vote. The seat of Lieutenant Governor was retained by Republican Bill Bolling and the open seat for Attorney General remained Republican, with current State Senator Ken Cuccinelli set to replace Bill Mims.

In total, there were 185 federal and state seats up for regular election on November 3, 82% of which were retained by incumbents (153 total). Of the 164 incumbents running for reelection, 153 (93%) won. Both independent incumbents won reelection, giving them a 100% win percentage. Only 1 of the 78 Republican incumbents did not win reelection (99% win percentage), while 10 of the 84 Democratic incumbents did not win reelection (88% win percentage).

Special Elections

The open seat for Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court swung Republican with the election of Joan Orie Melvin. Previously, Democrats had 4-3 majority on the court; it is now 3-4, in favor of the Republicans.

The Special Election for the U.S. House seat in New York District 23 resulted in Bill Owens (endorsed by the Democratic Party and Working Families Party) winning a seat previously held by Republican John McHugh. U.S. House District 10 in California (previously held by Democrat Ellen Tauscher) will remain Democratic, with the election of current Lieutenant Governor of California, John Garamendi. Before the election, the party composition of the U.S. House was 256 Democrats-177 Republicans-1 Vacant Republican Seat-1 Vacant Democratic Seat; it is now: 258 Democrats-177 Republicans.

Summary of Party-Changing Seats in this Election:

-1 of 1 Republican U.S. House seats went Democratic (special election)
-2 of 2 Democratic Gubernatorial seats went Republican
-the new office of Lieutenant Governor in New Jersey went Republican
-1 of 1 Democratic State Supreme Court Justice went Republican (special election)
-9 of 93 Democratic House/Assembly seats went Republican
-2 of 85 Republican House/Assembly seats went Democratic

-Kristen Vicedomini, Research Director

Follow-up on Inmate Labor Ballot Measures:

Proposal 2, the New York amendment to allow inmates in state and local correctional facilities to perform work for non-profit organizations, passed on Tuesday, November 3rd. Section 24 of article 3 of the State Constitution currently prohibits the farming out, contracting, giving away or selling of convict labor to any person, firm, association, or corporation. Inmates may, however, perform work for the State and its political divisions and their public institutions.

The amendment will authorize the Legislature to pass legislation allowing inmates to perform work for nonprofit organizations. A “nonprofit organization” is defined to mean an organization operated exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which benefits any private shareholder or individual.

As a non-profit organization, Project Vote Smart eagerly awaits internship applications from inmates in New York State correctional facilities! Inmates, if you have any questions, please call us from your “cell” phones.

-Stefan Johansson, Research

Unofficial results have been coming in across the country for the November 3rd election.  Here are the winners, state-by-state:

California: Congressional District 10

Maine: Ballot Measures

New Jersey: Governor and State Assembly, Ballot Measures

New York: Congressional District 23, Ballot Measures

Ohio: Ballot Measures

Pennsylvania: Justice of the Supreme Court

Texas: Ballot Measures

Virginia: Governor and State House

Washington: Ballot Measures

If Proposal 2 in New York passes, the legislature would be authorized to amend the constitution in order to “allow [inmates in state and local corrections facilities] to voluntarily perform work for nonprofit organizations.”  Currently, Article III- Section 24 of the New York State Constitution reads as follows:

“The legislature shall, by law, provide for the occupation and employment of prisoners sentenced to the several state prisons, penitentiaries, jails and reformatories in the state; and no person in any such prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory, shall be required or allowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade, industry or occupation, wherein or whereby his or her work, or the product or profit of his or her work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation. This section shall not be construed to prevent the legislature from providing that convicts may work for, and that the products of their labor may be disposed of to, the state or any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state, or any political division thereof.

In 2007, the state of Washington had a measure on the ballot to “authorize state-operated inmate labor programs and programs in which inmate labor is used by private entities through state contracts, and prohibit privately operated programs from unfairly competing with Washington businesses.”  This measure passed with 60.71% of the vote.

-Kristen Vicedomini, Research Director

There are twenty-six statewide Ballot Measures up for election on November 3rd, which are spread among six states: Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Washington.  Six of these are initiatives, two are citizen referenda, and eighteen are legislative referenda.   If enacted, seventeen would amend state constitutions, seven would change state law, and two would allow the state to issue bonds for certain projects.

There are three constitutional amendments proposed that would directly affect elections and officials themselves:

• Question 7 on Maine’s ballots would extend the amount of time local officials have to certify direct initiative petitions by five days.   To accomplish this, the final deadline for submitting petitions to the Secretary of State would be pushed back by 10 days, and other deadlines would be redefined.  Depending on which day of the week the deadline falls and if there are any legal holidays, petitioners could have up to 2-4 additional days to submit signatures.  This amendment would also change the  deadline of submitting signatures for a people’s veto from 5 days before the final deadline to 3 business days before the final deadline.
• Proposition 7 in Texas would “allow an officer or enlisted member of the Texas State Guard or other state militia or military force to hold other civil offices.”
• Texas’s Proposition 10 would extend the terms of elected members of the governing boards of emergency services districts from two years to four years.  There were also efforts in South Dakota this year to extend term lengths for elected officials.   SJR3 in South Dakota proposed to change state senate terms from two years to four years for those whose term of office begins in a year that ended in a 3 or 7.  While this passed in the state senate, the state house rejected it.  Had it received a majority in both houses of the legislature, this would have appeared as a ballot measure as well. 
  

-Kristen Vicedomini, Research Director

The passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 capped a process of reform that had begun nearly a hundred years before, with direct election of Senators–an idea first proposed all the way back in 1826, and which gathered momentum across a century of civil unrest and Congressional scandal–coming into full effect across the United States.  Four years short of the Amendment’s hundredth birthday, the principle of direct election of Senators has become firmly rooted in most Americans’ conception of just government.  However, to this day, seats in the Senate continue to be distributed through appointments– made not by their states’ legislatures, but by their governors.

Appointment of Senators by state governors is provided for in the text of the Seventeenth Amendment.  After mandating that Senators, in all regular circumstances, should be “elected by the people,” its second paragraph states:

“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”

Ultimate authority to decide how vacancies should be filled, therefore, remains with the State Legislatures.   Should they choose, they can deny the executive any ability to make interim appointments, leaving the governor’s sole Constitutional responsibility as issuing the order for a special election to be held.   In practice, though, only three states–Oklahoma, Oregon and Wisconsin–completely deny the governor this ability.  The fourth, until this week, was the state of Massachusetts. However, a Massachusetts bill that would allow the governor to choose interim appointees (H 4246) has just been signed into law.  Governor Deval Patrick has subsequently appointed Paul G. Kirk, Jr. to succeed the late Ted Kennedy as Senator.

Massachusetts now joins nine other states that allow for short-term executive appointments prior to a special election, namely Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Vermont and Washington.   Each state differs on the details of how these appointments should be made, and when an election must be held, ranging from sixty to one hundred and sixty days after the vacancy occurs.

The remaining thirty-seven states fill Senate vacancies at their next regularly scheduled general election, with the governor making an interim appointment according to certain regulations.  For instance, some states, including Arizona and Hawaii, have a proviso that the appointee must be of the same political party as the Senator whose death or resignation created the vacancy.  H 4246, the Massachusetts bill, contains a similar provision.   Other states, such as New Jersey and New York, specify that if a vacancy occurs shortly before a regular primary, the election to fill that vacancy is delayed until the next election cycle, and that the governor’s temporary appointee will hold office until then.

The subject of Senate appointments has received much attention in recent months, with several high-profile vacancies provoking a great deal of debate between supporters and opponents of executive appointment. In the last few months, Senators  George LeMieux of Florida, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Ted Kaufman of Delaware, Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Roland Burris of Illinois have respectively replaced retired Senator Mel Martinez, now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now-Vice President Joe Biden, now-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and now-President Barack Obama in the Senate.   This high concentration of Senatorial appointments during a period of frenetic and frequently controversial legislative activity has resulted in a number of attempts to erode or eliminate the ability of state governors to make appointments.   Most notably, House Joint Resolution 21 and Senate Joint Resolution 7, both introduced at the beginning of this legislative year, would amend the Constitution to require that a special election must be held to fill every Senatorial vacancy.

-Jonathan Bray (University of East Anglia, 2009, American Studies Major, from Polesworth, United Kingdom), Key Votes Intern

Sometimes, an official dies.

Sometimes, the deceased win elections.

Sometimes, an official resigns.

Sometimes, 29 public officials are arrested in one day.

Sometimes, a person is appointed to fill a vacancy.

Sometimes, a person is appointed to an office, but a question of the constitutionality of the appointment and a restraining order prevent him from taking office until the highest court of the state rules otherwise.

We track them all.

-Kristen Vicedomini, Research Director