Marriage Amendment? Embryonic Stem Cell Research? Here’s What May be on Your State’s Ballot

Every election cycle, millions of citizens participate in direct democracy. This allows citizens to vote on a specific issue that is placed on their ballot rather than leaving the question up for their elected representatives to decide. According to Ballotpedia, 26 states permit citizens to vote in some form on specific issues.

Here are two issues that are on the ballot in states this year.

Nevada Question 2: Marriage Regardless of Gender Amendment

Voters in Nevada will be able to vote on Question 2 which would “define marriage as between couples regardless of gender. It would also state that religious organizations and clergypersons have the right to refuse to solemnize a marriage.”

In 2002, the Nevada Constitution was amended to state that “marriage between a male and female was the only type of marriage recognized by the state.” This 2020 ballot measure would reverse the 2002 amendment.

A “yes” vote on this measure “supports this constitutional amendment to recognize marriage as between couples regardless of gender.” A “no” vote “opposes this constitutional amendment, thus keeping Question 2 (2002), which defined marriage as between a male person and female person, in the Nevada Constitution.”

However, because the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges declared same-sex marriage a constitutional right, this ballot measure would have “no effect on whether same-sex couples could receive marriage licenses.”

California Proposition 14: Stem Cell Research Institute Bond Initiative

California voters will decide whether to “issue $5.5 billion in general obligation bonds for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was created to fund stem cell research.”

A “yes” vote “supports issuing $5.5 billion general obligation bonds for the state’s stem cell research institute.” A “no” vote “opposes issuing $5.5 billion general obligation bonds for the state’s stem cell research institute.”

As The Daily Citizen has previously written, “to conduct embryonic stem cell research, scientists destroy the embryos of preborn babies that have been donated to science for medical experiments by families that have completed the in vitro fertilization process.”

To learn more about pro-life measures in Colorado and Louisiana, a push to legalize psychedelic mushrooms and drugs in Oregon and Washington, D.C., as well as an effort by parents to fight back against Comprehensive Sex Education in Washington, click here.

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