Gay Marriage, Other Potential Ballot Issues Fail in SDEC Meeting
If you've seen a Republican ballot you will notice that they occasionally put issues on their primary ballot relating to their platform. These are predominantly social issues and they are meant to strategically ensure that a certain type of base voter will go out to the polls.
The Democratic Party is now doing the same and the State Democratic Executive Committee met to discuss some of the issues to be put on the ballot, including marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, legalization of marijuana, and casino gambling.
Most of them failed.
Interestingly on the subject of marriage equality both members of Senate District 29 (El Paso) voted in favor of supporting marriage equality when it reached the full floor. SDEC man Don Williams was not able to attend but SDEC woman Yolanda Clay was about to vote for him by proxy. When the issue reached the full floor, she cast both votes in favor.
Clay is a member of the resolutions committee and during committee, she voted against the issue. One of my sources at the meeting said,
The measure failed 21-33, although it is part of the national platform.
Another measure that failed to make it on the ballot was legalization of marijuana. All the speakers that spoke about the other issues that didn't make it on the ballot were supportive of the issues, but voted against it because they thought it would not be helpful, would be controversial, or thought it might have the opposite of the desired effect. But the legalization issue was different in that many of the speakers weren't in support of legalization. This particular issue gained the least amount of support to be included on the ballot, earning just 12 votes in favor and 42 against.
The Democratic Party is now doing the same and the State Democratic Executive Committee met to discuss some of the issues to be put on the ballot, including marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, legalization of marijuana, and casino gambling.
Most of them failed.
Interestingly on the subject of marriage equality both members of Senate District 29 (El Paso) voted in favor of supporting marriage equality when it reached the full floor. SDEC man Don Williams was not able to attend but SDEC woman Yolanda Clay was about to vote for him by proxy. When the issue reached the full floor, she cast both votes in favor.
Clay is a member of the resolutions committee and during committee, she voted against the issue. One of my sources at the meeting said,
"I recall Yoli mentioning something in committee about how the domestic partner benefits fight in El Paso has divided the city and I think she saw the potential for the marriage equality referendum as being equally divisive. But, she was persuaded otherwise after listening to all the debate at the general meeting."
The measure failed 21-33, although it is part of the national platform.
Another measure that failed to make it on the ballot was legalization of marijuana. All the speakers that spoke about the other issues that didn't make it on the ballot were supportive of the issues, but voted against it because they thought it would not be helpful, would be controversial, or thought it might have the opposite of the desired effect. But the legalization issue was different in that many of the speakers weren't in support of legalization. This particular issue gained the least amount of support to be included on the ballot, earning just 12 votes in favor and 42 against.
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