Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to repeal the state income tax Tuesday as ballot measures across the nation addressed a host of contentious issues ranging from gay marriage to abortion.
The Massachusetts item would have deprived the state of an estimated 40 percent of its tax revenues and, according to opponents, would have forced a drastic cutback of needed programs and services.
Of the 153 measures at stake nationwide, the most momentous was the proposed constitutional amendment in California that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
Amendments to ban gay marriage also were on the ballot in Florida and Arizona. Under Florida law, the measure there needed 60 percent support to be enacted — partial returns showed it very close to that threshold.
Arkansas had a measure that would prohibit unmarried couples from adopting or being foster parents. Conservatives supporting the measure said it was aimed at same- sex couples, who are able to adopt and be foster parents in most states.
South Dakota’s ballot included an initiative that would ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother. A tougher law without the rape and incest exceptions was defeated in 2006; a recent poll on the new version suggested the outcome was too close to call.
If it passed, it would likely trigger a legal challenge that could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court and a reconsideration of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that established the right to abortion.
Colorado had a proposed amendment that would define human life as beginning at conception.
Two other measures also drew the interest of the rival sides in the abortion debate — a California proposition that would require parental notification for a minor’s abortion and a Michigan initiative that would loosen restrictions on stem-cell research.
Initiatives in Colorado and Nebraska would ban race- and gender- based affirmative action, similar to measures previously approved in California, Michigan and Washington. The movement’s leader, California activist-businessman Ward Connerly, said the candidacies of Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin prove blacks and women no longer need affirmative action.
In Washington state, voters were deciding whether to join Oregon as the only states offering terminally ill people the option of physician- assisted suicide.
Massachusetts had measures that would ban dog racing and decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. Use of marijuana for medical purposes would become legal under a measure in Michigan.
Among the other ballot items:
• Measures inspired by unease over immigration would designate English as the official language of government proceedings in Missouri and limit teaching of students in languages other than English to no more than two years in Oregon.
• A Missouri measure would require the state to generate 15 percent of its electricity from clean energy by 2021. A California measure would require all utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2010 and 50 percent by 2025.
• Another California measure would authorize the sale of $9.95 billion in bonds to fund a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
