Election Results!

As my Statcounter account tells me, there were a lot of you who stopped in on Wednesday and Thursday, probably looking to find out what happened in the election. I apologize, profusely, for not having anything up. Long story short, wrapping up one job and starting another will take blogging time away from me.

Here are some results from the Issue elections (with some commentary)... if you're still curious about various municipal, judicial, and school board elections, the Franklin County Board of Elections has the full (unofficial) results posted here.

State Issues

#1, Veterans Bonus: Passed with 72.15% of the Vote.

#2, Livestock Care Board: Passed with 63.66% of the Vote.

#3, Casino Authorization: Passed 52.97% of the Vote.

County Issues

#4, Children's Services Levy: Passed with 61.60% of the Vote.

Local Issues

See the unofficial results page for the full rundown on your local issues.

Recap:

Essentially, all the big issues passed. Franklin County turnout was 30.70% (really? Seriously? What the hell were you doing that was more important than voting on a Tuesday in November?? We can't all have screwed up registration like me!) and statewide it was 40.29%. All I gotta say is not many people have a right to complain when the government starts doing what it wants without a sense of accountability.

I'm disappointed in Issue 1 passing. I've said it before, I have a lot of respect for the members of the Services and don't feel the government does enough for them...but the year we're closing libraries, and schools, and other humanitarian services because the state is BROKE isn't the right time to throw money at anyone.

I'm also disappointed about Issue 2. I don't feel it'll really serve anyone's best interest, except the ones who already have money and influence. Hopefully I'm wrong, and just being cynical...but I'm not sure about that.

I'm pretty ambivalent about the casinos. I can see it being a good thing, I can see it being a not so good thing. I don't think anyone really thought this out...they just wanted to put together something the voters would authorize, and left a lot of things open ended or full of loopholes. Now we see if that is abused or rectified, I suppose...

At least the Children's Services levy passed. The job of taking care of kids in need, whether foster care or those needing to be checked up on by social workers, is really too big for the resources we allocate to it. I would've been a little sick if voters had shot this down.

And that's all she wrote this time. Starting next week I'll be starting to look forward to next year's election...the big 2010 "referendum" on the Obama "revolution."

Ohio State Issue 2: The Livestock Care Standards Board

In addition to the comment on Thursday's comment by the Buckeye Voice, I've heard some disturbing things about the Livestock Care Standards Board proposal from the Ohio Statehouse News Bureau.

1. The board would be appointed. The distance from the public it's supposed to serve bothers me, 'cause that's when the lobbyists can work best.
2. The money is very, very lopsided...millions of dollars raised to support the amendment, as opposed to a few thousand raised to oppose it. That smacks of corporate interest to me.
3. Small, "niche" farmers are feeling threatened all over the state. At first, I figured that wasn't a big deal (if you aren't up to snuff you go out of business, fact of life)...until I listened to the interview with a farmer who delivers fresh (within 48 hours) milk to his customers with a minimum of processing. I can see why big farmers would want him shut down, and could use the new board to make this farmer comply to standards that eliminate his competitive edge and skyrocket his costs.
4. The supporters don't seem to be proposing this to correct problems. They seem to just want to put another regulator into the stream of business to "make sure everything is well and good"...and that just sounds fishy to me.
5. It's an amendment to the state constitution, making it very, very hard to undo once put into law. Why be so permanent about this?

At first blush, it makes a lot of sense. "Let's put some vets and farmers on a board to figure out how to take care of the animals!" Until you realize...this isn't solving a problem or addressing specific concerns. There's no real voice for the opposition. And the board would be appointed and thus safe from any feedback the public has.

The more I think about this one, the less I like it. But it's YOUR vote, dammit, so decide for yourself. Here are some links...

Safe Local Food.org (Pro)

Human Society (Against)

Columbus Dispatch (Informative)

PDF of the Amendment (Informative)

Check it out. Do some digging. Decide if I'm being paranoid or am on to something.

PS: Sorry for the late post!