Please vote!

Election time is upon once again, and some of the issues on this year's ballot are really amazing. I am going to list some of the ones on the Arizona ballot and encourage everyone to vote. I don't really care HOW you vote, as long as you do it! I am also going to keep my personal opinions on most of these issues to myself. Some are going to just slip out before this is all over though, I just know it.

I am going to preface this by saying you can usually tell someone's disposition on political views by what language and terms they use. For example, you'll see the terms 'illegal immigrant' and 'undocumented worker', and can usually tell which side of the argument someone is on by which term they use. For today, I will preface all of my comments with a * symbol, and will refer to the afore-mentioned population by the name of Al. I have selected the name Al due to the fact that it is easy as hell to type.

Proposition 100
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the legislature relating to bailable offenses
* If passed, if Al goes to jail for a 'serious felony offense', he will not be eligible to post bail. This is an attempt to keep Al from slipping out of the country.

Proposition 101
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the legislature relating to property tax levies
* If passed, local goverment can't raise property taxes quite so often.

Proposition 102
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the legislature relating to standing in civil actions
* If passed, Al would not be able to sue for punitive damages, but CAN still sue for compensatory damages. This proposition is REALLY interesting. It would restrict Al from suing McDonald's for selling him hot coffee, but it would also restrict Al from suing McDonald's if their delivery truck ran over him in the street.
Proposition 103
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the legislature relating to English as the official language
* This one speaks for itself.

Proposition 104
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the legislature relating to municipal debt
*This one is too boring and complicated to explain to anyone who isn't a government major or a civil engineer.

Proposition 105
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the legislature relating to state trust land
* This is an apportionment proposal that tries to define who gets to profit off state trust land. If you prefer ranchers, farmers, and sportsmen, vote yes. If you prefer teachers and conservationists, vote no. (Yes, I know this is a gross oversimplification, but it's all the effort I'm going to put into my blog on this one. Trust me, it is even more boring to read through than prop 104 was).

Proposition 106
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the initiative relating to state trust land
* The ultimate in boring reading here. If you'd like to damage your eyesight and bring on a migraine, read this through. I'm still not sure what it says exactly, but I'm inclined vote for it due to 2 facts: 1) it seems to have a more varied range of support and 2) almost all of it's detractors are from "Arizonans for Responsible Planning", which is comprised of a bunch of rich developers who have a lot more money than I do.

Proposition 107
Proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution by the initiative relating to marriage
* This proposes to legally define marriage in the State of Arizona as a union between a man and a woman.

Proposition 200
Proposed by initiative petition relating to voter rewards
* This will introduce a 1-million random reward to someone who votes (really, I am NOT making this up.)

Proposition 201
Proposed by initiative petition relating to smoking
*No smoking in public places . . .. . period! (excepting designated areas of course)

Proposition 202
Proposed by initiative petition relating to the minimum wage
This would change the minimum wage from 5.15 to 6.75.

Proposition 203
Proposed by initiative petition relating to early childhood education
All day kindergarten and more preschool, at the expense of the 4th highest tobacco tax in the nation. (If Al is also a smoker, he's in for a rough time this November)

Proposition 204
Proposed by initiative petition relating to farm animals
*Free Piggy, or Babe, or Wilbur, or whatever you call him. You can't tie a good pig down anymore if this is passed.

Proposition 205
Proposed by initiative petition relating to voting by mail
*All registered voters get a ball mailed to their address automatically. (note: I'm not going to be impartial on this one, I LOVE this idea, and really hope it passes).

Proposition 206
Proposed by initiative petition relating to smoking
*Another no-smoking in public places initiative, but not nearly as far reaching as the other one, and doesn't over-ride local laws, and has very little enforcement. Think of this as 'Prop 201 light'. I'm not entirely certain what would happen if both proposition pass.

Proposition 207
Proposed by initiative petition relating to eminent domain
*Another classic developer/rancher/farm vs. conservationist/environmentalist fight. Pass this one would shift the favor pretty strongly FOR the developers though, and I'm not sure how many more new homes we need in this State, seeing as I can't afford any of the homes that are already here.

Proposition 300
Referred to the people by the legislature relating to public program eligibility
*This one will make Al ineligible for public assistance for ESL classes, and would make Al's kids ineligible for for subsidized child-care.

Proposition 301
Referred to the people by the legislature relating to probation for methamphetamine offenses
*Meth offenders don't get 3 strikes . . . . they get zero. This would also make them unable to get help when they get caught.

Proposition 302
Recommendation of the commission on salaries for elective state officers relating to legislatorsÂ’ salaries

*Up the legislators salaries from 24K to 36K (Umm, they don't need it, and really don't deserve it, and they can give themselves their own bonus of up to 36K if they want to WITHOUT our approval, keep that in mind).

So there you have it. Lots of juicy things on the Arizona ballot this year. If you want more info on how and where to vote, I got my early ballot here.