The election is over and the ‘Ney’s’ have it. 200 million dollars, fear-mongering and pandering, the sad and victimized faces of California school teachers in TV ads, characterizations of Gov. Schwarzenegger as a dictator, disingenuous pleas to protect the safety of our daughters, and a public too apathetic to vote culminated in a rejection of all 8 state-wide proposition measures in Tuesday’s special election. Here are the finalized election results:

Click on graphic for more details

It seems like among the electorate who actually did vote, they mostly followed the anti-Schwarzenegger rhetoric that dominated the tone of those opposed to the propositions supported by the Governor and voted No on all the measures. Arnold Steinberg from The National Review elaborated on this strategy of ‘no’:

The “no” syndrome in this special election had several components. There was the “no” on Schwarzenegger (targeted against his four measures). There also was the “no” on the special election itself, which mainly hurt his ballot propositions — perhaps all eight ballot propositions. Republicans hoped those angry people would simply stay at home, but plenty turned out, not just to vote “no” on his four reform propositions, but on all eight. I agree, though, with Republican strategists that many of those angry at the special did stay home; otherwise, the results Tuesday night would have been worse. Still another “no” syndrome would be television-ad fatigue. The media buys were overkill. Even casual TV viewers like myself saw every single spot many dozens of times. Who knows what befell a more regular viewer? One way to rebel was to stay away. Another way was to vote “no” on everything.

What is most frustrating to me is the apathy from the electorate. Constitutional budget changes and redistricting are not sexy and exciting election topics but Proposition 73, the parental notification for abortions initiative, has moral and passionate appeal but was defeated (narrowly) as well. Estimates are that only 30% of registered voters actually voted. If you consider that many citizens are not even registered and factor out the illegals, the number of actual voters that voted was very, very small.

How did Propositions 73 not pass? How did this initiative alone not muster the passion of conservatives and those religiously minded? Where were the voices of churches backing this proposition? Where was the pro-life get-out-the-vote drives? Polls consistently show that a majority of people, even in California, support parental notification for abortion. Why the apathy when given a chance to make your voice be heard?

I know that many people assuage their guilt of not voting by the fact that since none of the propositions failed by one vote, they are not personally responsible for them failing. I disagree. If you failed to vote (and assuming that you actually support the propositions), you do, in fact, share in their failure. I personally know that 7 of my friends did not vote and, if they would have, they would have voted for Prop 73, as well as many of the other initiatives on the ballot.

I am one person with a small group of friends and it seems that many of them did not vote. This story, I’m sure, has been repeated all over the state: people with good intentions wanting change in the state but no finish when it comes to actually casting a vote.

In a state of 36 million people, only 3,130,062 could muster the strength to cast a vote restoring the rights of parents over their children regarding abortion. How very sad indeed.

RELATED:
“Judgment Day”: Coverage of
California’s Special Election

Cross-posted at MCCANNTA

1. [...] So… California’s Special Election (only “special” in the sense that people didn’t go vote) is just a SAD reality of this State. I would have loved to vote, but I cannot. I’m not a citizen of this fine country nor a resident of this not so fine state. But, I mean, come on! Granted, Hugh Hewitt says the Governator’s approach to the whole thing was dumb, but aren’t there enough decent folks in this (not so) great state to vote “Yes” on Prop. 73? California Conservative says: In a state of 36 million people, only 3,130,062 could muster the strength to cast a vote restoring the rights of parents over their children regarding abortion. How very sad indeed. [...]

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