CAUTIOUS VOTERS STRIKE DOWN ONE AMBITIOUS BALLOT MEASURE AFTER ANOTHER

In state after state, voters shot down ambitious proposals that
grass-roots activists and reform movements had labored to place on the
ballot. The voters' mood, one expert said Wednesday, favored caution
and the status quo.

Three states rejected proposals to relax drug laws; two defeated
Election Day voter registration. Oregon's often adventuresome voters
turned down chances to make their state the first with mandatory
labeling of genetically modified food and health insurance for all
citizens.

Even in Berkeley, Calif., a longtime hotbed of political
experimentation, voters dumped cold water on a proposal that would
have required local shops to sell environmentally or socially correct
coffee. "Voters are being cautious because of what they're hearing
from their elected officials," said Dane Waters, president of the
Initiative and Referendum Institute. "They voted to maintain the
status quo more than anything else."

Of the 202 measures on statewide ballots Tuesday, 53 were placed there
through citizen petition drives. Twenty-four of those citizen
initiatives prevailed, but most of the high-profile measures lost.

Losers included three proposals backed by a national alliance of
drug-law reformers - a Nevada measure to legalize possession of up to
3 ounces of marijuana, an Arizona initiative that would have likened
pot possession to a traffic violation, and an Ohio proposal that would
have required judges to order treatment instead of jail for many drug
offenders.

"We're not the loosey-goosey swinging state they think we are," said
one of the leading foes of the Nevada marijuana measure, Washoe County
District Attorney Dick Gammick. "We are basically a conservative state
with hardworking people."

Drug reformers blamed their setbacks partly on the active role played
by the Bush administration in opposing their measures. In past
elections, federal officials have rarely campaigned against state
ballot measures.

"We need to sit down and take a deep breath and take a look at how we
can present the facts in a way people can understand," said Bruce
Mirkin, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Drug reformers found some consolation in municipal results. San
Francisco voters authorized a feasibility study for a medical marijuana

distribution program; in the District of Columbia, voters approved a
treatment-instead-of-jail measure for minor drug offenses.

In addition to drug reform, two other national reform movements hit
roadblocks.

Though six states already allow voters to register at the polls on
Election Day, residents of Colorado and California defeated measures
to join that group. In both states, opponents warned of voting fraud.

On the education front, Silicon Valley millionaire Ron Unz suffered
his first setback in his crusade to eliminate bilingual education. His
proposal to replace it with a one-year English immersion program
triumphed in Massachusetts, but was defeated in Colorado.

That broke a winning streak for the English-immersion movement that
began in California in 1996 and continued in Arizona two years ago.
Other citizen initiatives that failed Tuesday includes measures to
toughen animal cruelty penalties in Arkansas, raise cigarette taxes in
Missouri and abolish the state income tax in Massachusetts.

Voters were skeptical of proposals to raise taxes for highway and
transit projects. Even with a promise of less traffic congestion, they
rejected a proposed gasoline tax hike in Washington state and sales
tax increases in two regions of Virginia. In Florida's Miami-Dade
County, however, voters approved a half-cent sales tax for transit.

Among the successful citizen initiatives were a ban on cockfighting in
Oklahoma and two measures in Florida - one to ban smoking in
restaurants and other workplaces, the second to limit class sizes in
public schools. Republican Gov. Jeb Bush had opposed the class-size
measure, saying it was too costly.

Another education initiative - to spend $550 million annually on
after-school programs - won in California thanks to the patronage of
actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"My hope is, as goes California, so goes the rest of our nation," said
Schwarzenegger, touted by some Republicans as a future candidate for
governor.

Waters said it was predictable that education initiatives succeeded
when so many other citizen-backed proposals failed.

"When it comes to education measures, voters have a soft spot," he
said.

Overall, Waters said the results conveyed a clear message to activists
interested in future initiatives.

"It's not prudent to try these type of measures in uncertain times,"
he said. "It's not necessarily that people don't support universal
health care or drug reform. They just say, 'Hey, this is not the time
to deal with this.'"