An analysis of the voting pattern Tuesday in Virginia suggests that the so-called “marriage amendment” on the ballot as Question 1 might have cost U.S. Senator George Allen the election. If true, it would mark an ironic twist, the backfiring of an effort Republicans hoped would spur a stronger turnout for their incumbent.
With results like this I hope we will see the end of using discriminatory amendments to GOTXianV. Additionally Arizona became the first state to reject a marriageban related amendment (see comments). To my deep regret such an amendment passed in WI. Athenae covers that in post below.
(h/tAmericaBlog)
UPDATE: The ban also backfired in WI as Republicans lost control of the state Senate, lost seats in the Assembly and it didn’t help Republican Mark Green’s failed bid for governor. …Click Read more for details—–
FromJSOnline viaAmericaBlog
The controversial amendment easily passed Tuesday, with Wisconsin voters approving the ban by 59% to 41%.
But the measure clearly had an unintended consequence by sparking a larger-than-expected turnout, especially among left-leaning college students, who flooded their campus polling places.
The result: Dems scored some unexpected gains in the Statehouse.
SNIP
Democrats gained control of the Senate by knocking out four Republicans, including longtime Sen. David Zien, who also represents UW-Eau Claire.
SNIP
Sensenbrenner doesn’t disagree with the impact of the amendment on driving up the campus vote. But that’s only part of the story, he said.
By putting the same-sex marriage and death penalty measures on the same ballot, Sensenbrenner said, Republican leaders in the Legislature ended up drawing the wrong type of voter to the polls – Democrats, especially conservative ones. Those people voted for the ballot proposals but against Republican candidates.
His proof: About 275,000 people cast ballots for the ban on same-sex marriages but not for Green.
What’s more, he said, the Republican strategy gave opponents 1½ years to organize and raise millions of dollars.
“It was a lose-lose situation,” Sensenbrenner said. “You had Reagan Democrats and socially conservative union members who wanted to vote yes and yes (on the referendums) and then voted for Doyle.
“And then you had liberals who voted no on both, then voted for Democrats.”—–