November 2008 Elections Include Many Environmental Measures

In addition to casting their vote for president on Nov. 4, 2008, many people will be voting on environmental ballot measures of one type or another.

At the state level, there are several dozen ballot measures related to issues such as agriculture, energy, or natural resources. To find ones of interest to your audience, or to get the national picture, one source is the database maintained by the National Conference of StateLegislatures:

• NCSL Ballot Measures Database.

A search of topics listed turns up the following ballot measures (with some states having multiple measures, and with some overlaps bycategory):

• Agriculture=1 (CA)
• Energy and electric utilities=5 (AL, CA, CO, MO)
• Environmental protection=4 (AR, CA, OH)
• Natural resources=15 (AR, CA, CO, GA, LA, ME, MA, MN, MO, OH, OK, PA, RI)
• Transportation=7 (AK, CA, CO, RI, WA)

NCSL's latest overview of all types of ballot measures.

The Initiative and Referendum Institute is also tracking statewide ballot measures. Along with the issues covered by NCSL, IRI highlights votes on land use and/or eminent domain issues in LA, NV, OH, and OR. IRI also has a state-by-state list of all ballot measures, and election results for ballot measures and initiatives voted on earlier in 2008, including some with environmental links.

• IRI: Gilien Silsby, 213-740-9690 (office), 213-500-8673 (cell). BallotWatch.

To zoom in on more than 80 ballot measures at the county or municipal level that are addressing various types of land conservation issues, go to the LandVote site of the Trust for Public Land. These votes are being held in CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KY, MA, MI, MN, MT, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, UT, VA, and WA.

• LandVote: Tim Ahern, 916-557-1673 x17. LandVote Database (click on "Access the LandVote Database and Mapping System," do brief registration [TPL promises they won't bug you], and access the database. On that page, click on Upcoming Elections). There also are reports on earlier years.

For several other sources of information on statewide ballot measures, and individual races with environmental implications, see theTipSheet of Nov. 8, 2006.