ballot initiative

(Newser) - Barack Obama has a lot riding on his coattails. The impact of a presidential candidate's support on candidates for lower offices can be substantial, and this year's slates also include 153 ballot questions. Besides swinging gubernatorial and congressional races, measures concerning everything from gay marriage to gambling are up for...

(Newser) - Black voters energized by Barack Obama’s candidacy may also support a Californian ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage, the New York Times reports, though Obama himself opposes the ban. Opponents and supporters of Proposition 8 say African Americans will play a crucial role, and each side is trying to...

(Newser) - More Californians are opposing a gay-marriage ban there after language in the measure was made more explicit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A Field Poll showed a sharp increase in the majority who would vote no, from 51% in July to 55% today. A clause that would place a “...

(Newser) - San Francisco voters will decide in November not only who will succeed President Bush but also how they will remember him. A group calling itself the Presidential Memorial Commission has pushed through a ballot initiative to rename an area sewage plant after the outgoing president, the Chronicle reports. A White...