Ballot Bonanza: How Conservatism Fared in the 2018 Election

With Election Day two months in the rearview mirror, most people have spent all of their time analyzing the results of elections.  However, a series of ballot measures occurred simultaneously with many elections.  The ballot measures provide an interesting measure into how the voters feel about a series of hot-button issues.  Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from the 2018 election.  For more information, check out the list of ballot measures on the Clinton News Network website, which provides maps of the results by county and a separate list compiled by Fox News. Believe it or not, many of the items do not overlap.     

Biggest Winner: Redistricting Comissions (3-0)

Voters in Colorado, Michigan, and Utah all demonstrated support for the idea of an independent redistricting commission, that would draw the new legislative districts at the state and Federal level, as opposed to the legislature; which enjoys that role in most states.  Following the 2018 elections, a total of ten states will have independent redistricting commissions while the remaining states give the responsibility of drawing legislative districts to the state legislatures.

Second Biggest Winner: Voter ID Laws (2-0)

Voter ID laws won big in Arkansas and North Carolina.  The voters in Arkansas overwhelmingly approved voter ID laws, with the initiative sweeping every single county in the state; even the counties with majority African-American populations.  That kinds of flies in the face of the left-wing narrative that voter ID laws serve as nothing more than voter suppression tools.  Voters in North Carolina also approved voter ID laws, albeit by a smaller margin.  Most of the opposition to the law came from the “woke” part of the state known as the “Research triangle,” home to a large number of colleges and universities as well as the major cities of Durham and Raleigh.  In addition, residents of the major cities of Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Charlotte did not jump on board with voter ID laws.  To the rest of the state, voter ID laws seemed like common sense; enabling the measure to pass with 55 percent of the vote. 

Third Biggest Winner: The Pro-Life Movement (2-1)

In terms of percentages, the pro-life movement only achieved a 67 percent success rate on Election Day 2018.  In Alabama, a Constitutional amendment to recognize fetal rights passed with 59 percent of the vote.  In West Virginia, voters narrowly voted in favor of a Constitutional amendment that would restrict public funding of abortions.  The idea of using taxpayer money to fund abortions appears to excite the people in major cities but opposition in the rest of the state enabled the bill to pass.  Unfortunately, the residents of Oregon rejected a similar measure by a nearly 2-1 margin.  Even without the People’s Republic of Portland in the picture, Oregon still would have voted to keep shelling out taxpayer money to fund abortions, including abortions for illegal immigrants.  Oregon has become one of the most liberal states in the union, as I documented in a blog post from August 2017.

Mixed Results: Respecting National Sovereignty (1-1)

Also in Oregon, voters rejected a measure that would have repealed the sanctuary state law by a measure of nearly 2-1; meaning that Oregon, like its neighbor to the south, has effectively rolled out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants, including the criminals.  Unfortunately, failure to repeal the sanctuary state law will likely mean that Oregon will have its own Kate Steinles and Ronil Singhes, innocent Americans (or immigrants) who lost their lives at the hands of well-known criminals who had no right At the same time, voters in North Dakota voted in favor of a bill that would limit voting in state and Federal elections to citizens of the United States and North Dakota, an idea that sounds like common sense to most Americans. 

Mixed Results: Recreational Marijuana (1-1)

While an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana went “up in smoke” in one of the nation’s reddest states, an identical initiative received the support of a majority of residents in a key swing state.  Roughly 59 percent of voters in North Dakota rejected a ballot measure to legalize reefer while nearly 56 percent of Michigan voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana, making it the first state in the Midwest to legalize pot.  Following the 2018 elections, a total of ten states and the District of Columbia have succumbed to reefer madness; while a large number of states have approved the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes only. 

Mixed Results: The First Amendment (1-1)

In Alabama, an overwhelming majority of residents approved a Constitutional amendment that would allow for the public display of the Ten Commandments; effectively making it clear that they agreed with controversial former Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, who faced removal from the bench for refusing to comply with a court order demanding the removal of a Ten Commandments monument.  While Alabama remains politically polarized along racial lines, the fact that more than 70 percent of Alabamans and nearly every county in the state supported the measure proves that support for the public display of religion unites all people of Alabama, regardless of race.  On the other hand, Massachusetts, perhaps the polar opposite of Alabama when it comes to religion and politics, voted overwhelmingly to uphold a state law banning discrimination based on “gender identity,” which basically means that the title of a 1987 children’s book, There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom, might as well describe everyday life in The Bay State.   

Biggest Loser: Fiscal Conservatism (1-4)

In three ruby red states, voters chose to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.  In Idaho, roughly 60 percent of the voters voted for the Medicaid expansion; even as Republican Lieutenant Governor Brad Little won the governorship in a landslide.  While Idaho has not voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate for more than half a century, it does have its own state exchange for Obamacare; a rarity for a state dominated by Republicans at all levels.  While a slightly smaller proportion of voters in Utah voted in favor of Medicaid expansion, the measure still passed with 53 percent of voters supporting Medicaid expansion.  Like Idaho, Utah has not supported a Democratic Presidential candidate since 1964.  Finally, Nebraska also voted to expand Medicaid; with nearly 54 percent of voters supporting the initiative.  All of central and southern Nebraska rejected the measure but the yes votes in the heavily populated counties in eastern Nebraska, including the two containing the state’s largest cities, Omaha and Lincoln, more than made up for the no votes in the majority of the state’s counties. Two counties in western Nebraska also supported expanding Medicaid.  In California, Republicans hoped that anger over the recently imposed “gas tax” would cause Republicans to rush to the polls to punish the Democrats for imposing a tax that disproportionately affects the middle and working classes.  Proposition 6 failed; with 56.8 percent of Californians voting “no.”  As Tucker Carlson explained, California has the economy of Mexico; with an upper class consisting of tech oligarchs and Hollywood and a massive underclass consisting primarily of immigrants from south of the border.  Since many people at the lower end of the economic spectrum do not drive and/or use public transportation, they had no incentive to vote to repeal the gas tax.  After all, the gas tax probably helps pay for their free stuff.  As for the people at the very top of the economic pyramid, they either have the money to afford electric cars or they don’t mind paying more to fill up in the name of the “greater good.”  Most of the middle class that would have voted “yes” on the gas tax repeal have fled the state. Only one state, Montana, rejected a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative, which means that the previous Medicaid expansion will expire on June 30. 

While some referendums resulted favorable results for the conservative movement, that does not mean that liberals will accept defeat.  Conservatives should expect liberals to do everything in their power to undo the referendums; especially, if not exclusively, by running to the judicial branch.  We’ve seen this movie before.  In 1994, California voters passed Proposition 187; which would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving government services.  In other words, it attempted to remove the incentive for illegal immigrants to cross the border.  While the folks in the beltway, including then-Congressional aide Paul Ryan, found the idea of discouraging low-skilled immigration disgusting, 59 percent of Californians saw the idea as perfectly reasonable. However, it did not take long for a Jimmy Carter-appointed judge to strike down the measure as unconstitutional.  At the time of its passage, California had a Republican Governor and a Republican Attorney General.  Although it had two Democratic Senators, California did not seem like a lost cause for Republicans.  In 1999, Gray Davis became the first Democratic Governor since Jerry Brown left office sixteen years earlier. Not surprisingly, he dropped the appeal of the Court ruling striking down Proposition 187 filed by his predecessor, Republican Pete Wilson, completing the Democrats’ master plan of nullifying the will of the voters when it came to keeping immigration under control. More than twenty years after the passage of Proposition 187 and its almost immediate nullification by the Courts, California Governor Gavin Newsom promised to implement free healthcare for illegal immigrants.

In 36 statewide referendums held between 1998 and 2012, American voters made it overwhelmingly clear how they felt when it came to redefining message.  Voters in 31 states supported protecting traditional marriage over legalizing same-sex marriage.  By 2012, the wording had changed in most states; with citizens in Maine, Maryland, and Washington asked if they wanted to legalize same-sex marriage; as opposed to the other referendums, which asked voters whether or not they wanted to approve bans on same-sex marriage.  In only five states did a majority of voters express support for legalizing same-sex marriage: the aforementioned Maine, Maryland, and Washington, as well as Minnesota. Same-sex marriage only became legal in a majority of the remaining states by court rulings.  In only a handful of states did same-sex marriage become legal as a result of the will of the people or their elected representatives. But as Ann Coulter pointed out, “liberals consider the repeated votes of the people merely an invitation to run to the courts and get the people’s will overturned.”  In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that all state bans on same-sex marriage violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution; declaring the votes of millions of Americans void.

So, conservatives: enjoy the handful of victories at the ballot box last year.  But don’t expect liberals to give the same deference to the referendums they lost that they give to the referendums they won. The fight will continue.