Same-sex marriage: Eight states will turn the issue of same-sex marriage over to voters. Of those, Colorado will be the first state to ever give voters the opportunity to extend marital rights to same-sex couples under the name “domestic partnerships.” States:
Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin
With the national minimum wage remaining at its 1997 level of $5.15 an hour, six states are giving voters the chance to decide whether wage levels should be increased. States: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Nevada
Government spending limitations: At least three states are considering state spending limits modeled after Colorado’s landmark Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the effects of which were temporarily suspended in 2005 by Referendum C. States: Maine, Nebraska, Oregon
Abortion: South Dakota voters are weighing a ballot item that would repeal the state’s abortion ban, which outlaws the procedure except to save the life of a pregnant woman.
