Voters face wide range of ballot questions Tuesday

In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, Chelsea Corbridge, left, signs a petition for Rebecca Saldivar, trying to get the issue of alcohol sales in Hyde Park, Utah onto the ballot. Residents can vote to lift a long-standing ban on the sale of alcohol in Tuesday’s election. Hyde Park, population 4,000, is among a handful of dry cities left in a state known for its tee totaling ways. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero)

In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, Chelsea Corbridge, left, signs a petition for Rebecca Saldivar, trying to get the issue of alcohol sales in Hyde Park, Utah onto the ballot. Residents can vote to lift a long-standing ban on the sale of alcohol in Tuesday’s election. Hyde Park, population 4,000, is among a handful of dry cities left in a state known for its tee totaling ways. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero)

FILE- In this May 21, 2012 file photo, the Astrodome sits gathering dust and items for storage in Houston. A coalition of local and national preservation groups is taking its efforts to save the iconic but now shuttered Houston Astrodome to the streets. On Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, voters will decide whether to approve a referendum authorizing up to $217 million in bonds to turn the stadium that once hosted both baseball and football games into a giant convention center and exhibition space.(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

Voters across the country face ballot measures Tuesday ranging from whether to approve seven casinos in New York to the fate of Houston's iconic Astrodome. Here's a look at some of the ballot questions.

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MARIJUANA AND ALCOHOL

COLORADO: Voters will be asked to approve a 25 percent tax on newly legal recreational marijuana to fund school construction. Opponents argue the tax rate would benefit black market sales.

MAINE: Voters in Portland, Maine's largest city, will decide whether to legalize possession of recreational amounts of marijuana.

UTAH: Residents in the small town of Hyde Park are voting on whether to allow beer sales in a proposal that has divided the conservative, mostly Mormon city. Hyde Park is among a handful of dry cities left in the state, and the ordinance would only allow the sale of beer with the alcohol content of 3.2 percent.

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GAMBLING

MASSACHUSETTS: Two casino proposals are facing key votes. Residents of the East Boston neighborhood and the city of Revere will decide whether to allow Suffolk Downs to go forward with its bid for a $1 billion casino at the 78-year-old thoroughbred race track. Voters in Palmer will decide on a casino proposed by Mohegan Sun.

NEW YORK: New Yorkers will decide whether to authorize seven casinos in a hotly contested referendum that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has bet on heavily to help revive the economy and provide tax revenue for schools. Opposing the measure is an unusual mix of conservatives, religious leaders, liberal good-government groups and newspaper editorials. They say the toll on families and communities is too high.

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MINIMUM WAGE

WASHINGTON STATE: Voters in the small Seattle suburb of SeaTac are deciding whether workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and nearby large hotels should be paid a $15-an-hour minimum wage and obtain a handful of sick days. Washington state already has the highest minimum wage at $9.19.

NEW JERSEY: A constitutional amendment would raise the state's minimum wage by $1, to $8.25 an hour, and also provide for automatic cost-of-living adjustments. The $8.25-an-hour rate would take effect Jan. 1, and the cost-of-living adjustments would take place the first of every September.

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HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

MAINE: Residents of South Portland will vote on whether to ban the flow of tar sands oil from western Canada to the city. Environmentalists say the thick, gooey oil is more difficult to clean up than conventional crude oil, contains harmful chemicals and releases more greenhouse gases. Supporters of a pipeline say a ban would hamper the growth of existing petroleum-based businesses.

WASHINGTON STATE: The campaigning for and against a referendum that would require labels on genetically engineered food has shaped up to be one of the costliest in state history. The Grocery Manufacturers Association and five major corporations have spent about $20 million to cut into strong support for the measure, while food-labeling supporters have raised $7.8 million.

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SCHOOL FUNDING

COLORADO: A kindergarten-through-12th-grade school-finance overhaul would increase income taxes about $1 billion a year and revive a progressive income tax structure abandoned in the 1980s.

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ASTRODOME'S FUTURE

TEXAS: Voters in Houston will decide whether to save or raze the iconic but shuttered Houston Astrodome. A referendum would authorize up to $217 million in bonds to turn the stadium into a giant convention and event center. If the measure fails, Houston-area leaders say the Astrodome will probably be torn down.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-11-05-Ballot%20Measures/id-eb5b5e4487c44fe4b274f804467a7260
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