AMERICANS were doing more than electing a president and a Congress yesterday. They were also voting on 90 referendums or initiatives, spread over 20 states, the highest number since 1904.
California as usual had the most high profile questions. Voters there were deciding whether to legalise marijuana for medical use or end affirmative action programmes based on race or sex.
In some cases, the initiatives are co-ordinated nationally by well-organised lobbies. Eight states voted on the demands of victims to be informed about developments in their cases, to play a role in plea negotiations and to address the court. Some lawyers associations are concerned that such demands might affect the rights of defendants.
Hunting is one of the country's favourite sports and there are proposals on the subject in 10 states. Some include banning the use of bait and hounds to hunt bears, while in Colorado, the proposal was to prohibit the use of leghold traps, poison or snares.
Colorado also had to decide on a proposal backed by the powerful Christian coalition which would give parents the right "to direct and control the upbringing, education, values and discipline of their children". Opponents fear this could lead to children being kept in abusive homes.
Environmental issues were also on state ballots. In Florida, they voted on measures to protect the Everglades. In Maine, they had to decide on whether to ban the practice of clear-cut logging.
Taxes are always a hot issue in elections and this time a lobby organised ballots in nine states which would make it make more difficult to increase them. Oregon, for example, would require a two-thirds, majority of registered voters before state taxes could be raised.
Sometimes these state initiatives are later challenged in the courts to see if they conflict with an overriding federal law or are an infringement of constitutional g, The California marijuana initiative, if passed, is seen by the White House drugs chief, Gen McCaffrey, as contrary to the federal ban on distributing and using the drug.
The outcome of the California initiative to abolish affirmative action programmes will be closely watched across the country. President Clinton has hedged his bets, saying the people should "mend it, not end it".
This is an issue which is already being ruled on piecemeal by the Supreme Court as the initiatives of various states come before it. Fixing precise quotas for the employment of minorities or women has already been struck down but the fate of programmes which stop short of this has not yet been decided.