Tuesday, for those living under a rock, was the day of the 2014 midterm elections — where Democrats lost control of the U.S. Senate. They were also defeated in a number of key governor’s races, including in the state of Florida. The Democrats took a thumping, a shellacking and a whipping, with a net loss of 13 House seats and seven Senate seats.
This huge wave of red left many Democrats angry, discouraged and pessimistic, which was evident through lengthy Facebook statuses and angry rants about why millennials didn’t get off their bottoms to vote and the impending doom of Republican governance.
What many Democrats failed to realize is that while Democrats were losing seats, their initiatives passed by large margins.
Red states like Arkansas, Nebraska, Alaska and South Dakota have passed ballot initiatives to increase their minimum wage over the federal level of $7.25.
This indicates that such measures, which have been gaining popularity since 2002, will become more and more popular even if Republican legislatures try to block them.
The state of Washington approved a strict gun control measure after a shooting took place at a Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
This measure, which requires background checks on all gun sales, could create a domino effect leading to other states using ballot initiatives to act on the public’s approval of gun restrictions.
The states of Colorado and North Dakota both rejected personhood amendments that would establish the notion that life begins at conception and expand human rights to unborn fetuses.
It could be argued that these amendments would be unconstitutional because they would, by default, make abortion illegal. Regardless, voters across the country have rejected all five personhood amendments since 2008.
Another area where the Democrats won out is marijuana legalization. The District of Columbia, Oregon and even Alaska all legalized it by wide margins.
While the state of Florida rejected the medical marijuana measure, a majority of voters cast their ballots in favor of it.
Although these places do not yet have regulatory plans to put in place within the marijuana industry, legalization advocates are over the moon.
The state of California approved a measure that would turn “non-serious, nonviolent crimes and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor, which will subsequently affect the sentences of one in five prisoners, thus further cutting the prison population.
It is important to mention that the Democratic Party has not formally endorsed marijuana legalization or advocated for widespread prison reform. Democrats are just more likely to adopt such measures than Republicans are.
Americans are starting to favor progressive positions on important issues such as marriage equality, combating climate change, minimum wage increases and the legality of abortion.
However, these attitudes did not translate in the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections. It is safe to say that the ballot initiative itself could grow in popularity all over the country if voters feel as though their legislators and Congress are not meeting their needs. It is a sad state of affairs when we see that ballot initiatives could be the only way to effect change.
Governance seems to be grinding to a halt in this country, and it is up to the voters to mobilize and vote on issues instead of politicians, because they don’t seem to be delivering the way their constituents want them to.
Harold Joseph is a UF political science junior. His columns appear on Fridays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 11/7/2014]
