ACTIVISTS' INITIATIVES SMOKED FROM POT TO TAXES, VOTERS REJECT EFFORTS

In state after state, voters shot down ambitious proposals that grassroots
activists and reform movements had labored to place on the ballot.

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 only coffee that was organic or "fair trade," meaning growers are
paid at least $1.26 per pound.

Experts said voters are being cautious during a time of uncertainty and
economic downturn. "They voted to maintain the status quo more than
anything else," said Dane Waters, president of the Initiative and
Referendum Institute.

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.

Drug activists found 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.

Two other movements also 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.

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

Other citizen initiatives that failed Tuesday include 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.

Another education initiative - to spend $550 million annually on
after-school programs - won in California thanks partly to the patronage of
actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, touted by some Republicans as a future
candidate for governor.