2022 Election Analysis: State Ballot Measures
Money Doesn’t Always Buy Voter Love
The gods of fire let the state of California off easy this year because they were otherwise occupied with the massive bonfire otherwise known as campaign spending on ballot propositions.
To be sure, there were some worthy causes on the November ballot, but they weren’t responsible for the really big piles of cash that were burnt up trying to convince people to vote for things they neither wanted nor needed.
Let’s run through what voters statewide were asked to vote on. Voting results are expressed as percentages because the actual number of votes will be outdated soon after I publish this piece. The ratios are a more stable measure for this sort of analysis. I’ve broken out San Diego percentages along with the statewide results.
Proposition 1 - Added the right to abortion and contraceptive use to state constitution.
Statewide: 65.1% YES - 34.9% NO
San Diego: 62.43% YES - 37.75% NO
Total amount spent: $20.2 million
Okay, it was a righteous statement in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe vs Wade. And it was a decent investment to ensure voter engagement for the general election. The problem with this constitutional amendment lies with a theoretical future Congress controlled by Christian Nationalists passing national laws putting their theology in charge of women’s healthcare. Hopefully we’ll never get to the point where it’s the feds vs the state on these issues. For all the chatter about how allowing abortions is widely supported, the very Red counties in the state had majorities voting NO.
Proposition 26 - Allow Native American tribes to offer sports betting on tribal lands
Statewide: 69.8% NO - 30.2% YES
San Diego: 64.8% NO - 35.2% YES
Total amount spent: $164 million
California’s tribes and the Online Sports Betting industrial complex have never seen eye to eye on how to legalize sports betting. This measure was the tribal plan after negotiations at the state legislative level fell apart. Voters looked at the overwhelming number of claims being made and opted to take the physician approach of “first, do no harm.”
Proposition 27. Dictating the sports betting companies agreements with Native American tribes.
Statewide: 83.4% NO - 16.6% YES
San Diego: 64.8% NO - 35.2% YES
Total amount spent: $408.3 million
Man, that’s a big chunk of change spent on something that will be lucky to get two million yes votes statewide. I’m guessing all the consultants are off in Cancun celebrating their good fortune at finding a bunch of easy marks among the gambling crowd. If that kind of spending doesn’t reek of corporate corruption, I don’t know what does.
Proposition 28. Increases spending on arts programs in public schools.
Statewide: 61.8% YES- 38.2% NO
San Diego: 59.01% YES- 40.99% NO
Total amount spent: $11.8 million
Yay! It’s for the children! It’s a backdoor way to funnel more money into schools that doesn’t cut into the existing system. This is all fine and dandy while we have a budget surplus. Hopefully, we won’t regret this ballot box budgeting choice.
Proposition 29. Regulates staffing of kidney dialysis clinics.
Statewide: 69.9% NO - 30.1% YES
San Diego: 71.19% NO - 28.91% YES
Total amount spent: $94.2 million
Dialysis clinics are essentially a racket that wouldn’t be allowed if we had a health care system instead of an insurance care system. That said, this is the third time voters have been asked to vote in what is essentially a management vs union battle. The answer all three times has been NO because the monopolists who dominate the business run ads threatening to cut off granny’s dialysis.
Proposition 30. A tax on millionaires to support the widespread use of electric vehicles.
Statewide: 59.2% NO - 40.8% YES
San Diego: 56.7% NO - 43.3% YES
Total amount spent: $82.6 million
Does this result mean we don’t love the planet? I know a lot of environmentalists thought this was a good idea. Except that the tech bros at Lyft seemed to have built in a backdoor for themselves worthy of 94% of the funding for the YES side. Gov. Newsom’s opposition muddied the moral clarity supporters hoped would compel public support.
Proposition 31. Upholds state law barring the sale of flavored tobacco.
Statewide: 62.4% YES - 37.6% NO
San Diego: 59.66% YES - 40.34% NO
Total amount spent: $70.8 million
The assholes at RJ Reynolds, who (along with other companies) kept this from becoming law for two years by putting it on the ballot, are now suing as a tactic to keep menthol cigarettes on the even market longer. Where’s a firing squad when you need one?
Via the New York Times:
Tobacco companies had turned to the ballot initiative in an apparent effort to delay the ban and put the matter to a popular vote. The move “allowed tobacco companies to earn $1.1 billion in revenue while 37,000 youth tried candy-flavored tobacco products,” Laurent Huber, the executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, an advocacy group, said in a statement.
After the companies’ defeat on the ballot, Reynolds’s lawsuit renews an industry argument that local and state governments do not have the right to challenge federal law under the Tobacco Control Act, which gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.
The argument was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which ruled against Reynolds in March, after the company sought to overturn Los Angeles County’s ban on flavored tobacco products. Reynolds is trying to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Food for thought
Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com