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Americans Vote on Controversial Issues on State Ballots

Posted: Nov 7, 2012 6:01 AM by Kacie Yearout
Updated: Nov 7, 2012 6:45 AM

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UNITED STATES - Around the country Americans voted on some of the country's most important and most divided issues. Same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act, and marijuana legality were the most common and had states coast to coast voting on them.

Four states voted on same-marriage: Maryland, Maine, Washington, and Minnesota. Maryland and Maine both approved same-sex marriage. Washington is too close to call as of 5 a.m. central time and is only passing by about 68,000 votes. It will most likely be called later in the week. Minnesota voted on the definition of marriage as between a man and woman, but it failed. Though defeated, it still remains illegal in the state.

The Affordable Care Act has caused controversy since the very beginning and four states voted on the legality of it. The exact language of each was a bit different, but basically the states were voting on whether citizens had to buy health insurance, which the act mandates. Alabama, Montana, and Wyoming all agreed they do not have to participate. Alabama and Wyoming's votes will add amendments to their state constitutions. Florida had a very close vote, 51 percent against and 49 in favor, but ended up failing to limit the Affordable Care Act.

Both Colorado and Washington voted to approve the distribution and regulate of marijuana for citizens 21 years and older. Maine voted to approve medical marijuana while Montana voted in ban medical marijuana. The vote in Arkansas was extremely close, but it ended up failing to approve marijuana for medical usage.

Other initiatives included a vote to ban the death penalty in California, which failed. Florida also decided to continue public funding for abortions.

Some of the west coast initiatives have not been called yet, but officials expect them to later today as all the votes come in.

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