California Proposition 91

[Nystul]

The whole notion of earmarking certain incoming funds to a specific purpose is a bit of a farce in my opinion. When the Ohio Lottery was instituted, it was justified by earmarking the raised funds for state education. Who can possibly oppose it when the money goes to the kids? I believe the children are the future and all that crap. But does that raise the education budget of the state by the amount that the lottery brings in? Of course not. It just takes the funds from other taxes that would have been used for education and frees them up for other uses. At best, the lottery represents a guaranteed minimum that the state could appropriate to education, but even that probably has loopholes. Same thing with your gas tax. It's a convenient justification to implement a tax that would otherwise face stiff opposition.

As for people voting for the proposition when it is already obsolete, I'm sure that will happen a lot. Even more so in years of presidential elections, a lot of people will be showing up at the polls without understanding the direct vote issues. There isn't always much information out there even if you look for it. It's bad enough that people will be weighing the pros and cons of an issue they had never considered before entering the poll, but the language on the ballot can often be pretty confusing as well.

If 1A got 77% of the vote, your 30% estimate for this one may be on the low side. I'll say 40.