Word: ballot
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...deal crafted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature temporarily kept the Golden State financially solvent. In Tuesday's special election, the electorate must choose among a range of propositions aimed at solidifying that compromise and helping shore up California's shaky finances. So far, however, nearly all the ballot propositions are trailing in the polls - and that could rock the state as hard as a major earthquake. (As if on cue, a sharp 4.7 temblor rattled Los Angeles on Sunday night, raining broken glass on the streets...
...trade, but a budget eventually gets passed and life moves on. In the Golden State, bitter partisanship is exacerbated by a constitutional rule requiring a two-thirds majority in the legislature to pass either a budget or new taxes. Meanwhile, the state's nearly 100-year-old system of ballot initiatives has progressively tied state government in Gordian knots...
...well be held in 2010, but they will not take place on a level playing field. Top posts will be reserved for members of the military, and arcane rules have been designed to keep Suu Kyi and other NLD stalwarts from running for office. Burma-watchers also fear that ballot boxes will be stuffed to ensure that the military doesn't lose as it did so spectacularly...
...plug a $41 billion budget shortfall. The deal that was finally struck will entail many painful cuts. In March, the month after the deal was struck, 27,000 educators received lay-off notices. Moreover, the complicated deal is in large measure contingent upon approval of a series of ballot propositions that are set to be voted on May 19. With plenty not to like in the details of the compromise, it appears that the propositions will get the thumbs down...
...Burma's junta has called for elections next year, a crucial step in what the military calls the formation of a "discipline-flourishing democracy." But most outside observers worry that the polls will be marred by stuffed ballot boxes and coerced votes for the military. Electoral rules are skewed, too, reserving top posts for members of the army and denying public office to anyone with a prison record or who was married to a foreigner. (Many NLD members have been thrown into jail, and Suu Kyi was married to a British academic who died of cancer.) (Read "In Burma, Even...