Voters Face Lengthy Ballot in November

Secretary of State Bekki Cook has approved two more initiative petitions for circulation, bringing the total to eleven. One would prohibit local taxes on electricity while the other would bar local taxes on electricity and natural gas. Both measures would replace the current sales taxes with use taxes. Although eleven petitions are being circulated, Cook says she’d be surprised if all of them wind up on the ballot this November. Six would amend the state constitution while five would change state law. And that doesn’t include the political contests we’ll decide this November, from the presidential contest to the race for governor to any number of joint resolutions the General Assembly might send to voters this fall. Cook says voters faced with an unusually long ballot tend to skip issues or candidates they are unfamiliar with and just vote on the issues and people they know.