Tuesday, November 7

Election Day

My kids were discussing the voting referenda for this election. There are three referendum. The marriage amendment, the death penalty advisory, and the Oak Creek Middle School referendum. There is some confusion regarding the marriage amendment and some people seem to think they are voting for or against gay marriages. That is not true, gay marriage is already not legal in this state. The vote is to amend the state's constitution.

A yes vote on the marriage referendum means voting to change Wisconsin's constitution. The existing law restricting marriage to be between a man and woman will then become part of the state's constitution and would not recognize any legal validity of a marriage between anyone but a man and a woman.

A no vote on the marriage referendum means voting to leave things alone. It will not amend the state's constitution, nor will it change the existing law in Wisconsin.

After taking a business law class and developing a deep appreciation for the constitution as it is written I firmly believe that changing anything in either the US or state's constitution is a really big deal and a really bad idea.

The death penalty referendum is pretty straight-forward but it's advisory so it's just a suggestion not something we're voting into law.

Again, bad idea. Research will bear out that the death penalty does not stop crime and it doesn't save any tax-payer dollars. In fact, it's quite the opposite, once a person is sentenced to death, they now have legal access to many appeals paid for with tax dollars. So they are on our dole for a long, expensive ride before any sentence ends up being carried out. Not to mention, that the whole thought disgusts me, it's barbaric. Wisconsin was the first state to abolish the dealth penalty which makes us progressive. We need to move ahead, not back.

The middle school referendum would set aside money to build a new middle school. Progressively, that would make room to expand the East middle school into a high school since the new middle school could handle the additional students.

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