INITIATIVES (CONT)

  • The Associated Press has covered the controversies surrounding the procedures that put the imitative on the ballot.
  • An article in the Salt Lake Tribune describes debate between proponents of the ballot initiative and those who say it will put the state's radioactive waste disposal industry out of business.

The animal protection movement, coordinated primarily by the Human Society and the Fund for Animals, has placed three high profile issues on November's ballot, according to the Initiative & Referendum Institute. In Florida, voters will decide whether to ban gestation crates for pigs. Even though Florida has a relatively small pig farming community, this initiative, if successful, will mark the opening salvo on the growing industrial hog farming industry. In Oklahoma, voters will decide an initiative to outlaw cockfighting and in Arkansas an initiative to toughen penalties for extreme acts of animal cruelty will be decided. But not only will voters decide on pro animal protection initiatives, they will also face a ballot question in Oklahoma that would hinder future animal protection efforts. State Question 698, a measure placed on the ballot by the legislature, would increase the number of signatures needed to qualify an initiative to promote the welfare of animals.