The GHZ Forum

Ngangbius wrote:You did vote, didn't you?

Spazz wrote:Poor Grant, around here, people are saying they were in and out in 2 mins. Of course, it all depends on when you go and where you are.

Squirrelknight wrote:Voting was pretty easy for me-- They had one of those electronic voting things though, so there's probably going to be some error or computer crash and my vote won't be counted.

Spazz wrote: We had those too. I hear there are like 50+ write-in candidates on the CA ballot. Z'at true?

Zeta wrote:There wasn't a vote for the gay marriage thing in North Carolina. But according to my beau, there was one in Georgia. Interesting . . . I guess this place is more liberal than I thought. Well, not in the stoneage where I live - but in the cities.

Ga., Ky., Ohio Vote Against Gay Marriage

46 minutes ago

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

Voters in Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio approved constitutional amendments Tuesday to ban same-sex marriage, with similar results expected in most of the eight other states considering such measures.


AP Photo



Early results made clear the amendments would, as expected, win easy approval. Exit polls showed the ban winning by 3-to-1 in Georgia and 3-to-2 in Ohio, while the Kentucky amendment had 64 percent support in early returns.


The Ohio measure, considered the broadest of the 11 because it barred any legal status that "intends to approximate marriage," gathered equal support from men and women, blacks and whites.


In Georgia, gay-rights activists immediately announced they would mount a court challenge of their state's amendment. But supporters of the ban were jubilant.


"I've said all along that this crossed party lines, color lines and socio-economic lines," said Sadie Fields of the Georgia Christian Coalition. "The people in this state realized that we're talking about the future of our country here."


Conservatives hoped the amendments would prevail in all 11 states, sending a signal that the American public disapproved of gay marriage. National and local gay-rights groups campaigned vigorously in Oregon, where polls showed a close race, and in a few other states to try to prevent a sweep.


None of the 11 states allows gay marriage now, though officials in Portland, Ore., married more than 3,000 same-sex couples last year before a judge halted the practice. Supporters of the amendments contend the measures are needed as an extra guard against state court rulings like the one in Massachusetts a year ago that legalized same-sex marriage there.


The proposed amendments in Mississippi, Montana and Oregon refer only to marriage, specifying that it should be limited to unions of one man and one woman. The measures in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah would ban civil unions as well.


In most cases, those additional provisions generated extra controversy. Some prominent Republican politicians and GOP-leaning newspapers, while stressing that they opposed gay marriage, spoke out against the amendments on grounds that the measures might prevent the extension of even very limited partnership rights to unmarried gay and straight couples.


In five of the states, legislators placed the proposed amendments on the ballots, while in the six others — Arkansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and Oregon — the measures were advanced by conservative, church-backed citizens groups that collected signatures on petitions.


Many gay-rights activists and their allies depicted some of the petition drives as a divisive, GOP-backed tactic to boost conservative turnout on Election Day in crucial battleground states like Ohio and Michigan.


Already this year, voters in Missouri and Louisiana have weighed in on the issue, with gay-marriage-ban amendments winning more than 70 percent of the vote in both states.


Louisiana's amendment was later struck down in state court on the ground that it improperly dealt with more than one subject by banning not only same-sex marriage but also any legal recognition of common-law relationships, domestic partnerships and civil unions. The court challenge in Georgia involves a similar argument.


Even if all 11 amendments were approved, the debate would rage on. Conservatives say they will continue to press for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, on the premise that even toughly worded bans in state constitutions could be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites).



Gay-rights activists, meanwhile, will continue pressing marriage-rights lawsuits in states like Oregon, California and New Jersey, where they believe the high courts might eventually rule in their favor.