US update: Initiatives in the recent US election

In the flurry of excitement around the re-election of Barack Obama many of you may have not noticed that many States in the US also voted on a raft of initiatives that were put before the electorates of these States.

There were 176 initiatives being voted on at the US election on Tuesday, in 38 states:

• Maine, Maryland and Washington voted to bring in same-sex marriage at a federal level.
• Colorado and Washington voted to legalise cannabis (although it is still illegal at a national level).
• Massachusetts voted to legalise cannabis for medical purposes, joining 17 other states
• Minnesota narrowly rejected a ban on same-sex marriage.

This information is very useful for students studying AS politics, because these examples can be used as examples of 'direct democracy' in other parts of the world, and they should also be useful to students of American politics, who might consider whether this raft of liberal measures indicates a general shift to the left in the US over social issues.