Episode 107: The Upcoming U.S. Election By State

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Ian: Hey everyone, you are listening to “Coffee with Gringos.” I'm Ian Kennedy.

Paige: And I'm Paige Sutherland.

Ian: So, today we're going to be talking about some more important voting measures and initiatives and like we talked about in a previous episode, in the upcoming presidential election we have a lot of important things happening, not only on the federal level but also on the state level. And so, for those listeners who aren't familiar exactly with the system that we have in the US, we have a federal and a state voting system. So, that means when we vote for the presidential candidate, there are also a number of measures or rules, laws, some votes that we have to make for your particular state. So, we vote for the president—that's on a federal level—but then you have other voting for measures, for laws, for judges, for representatives in Congress—a whole number of things. And these are very important because, at a state level, this is very close to home, it's very local in governance. So, one could even argue that the state voting is more important than the federal voting—more important than who the president is going to be—because these kinds of laws affect you on a very personal level, a very local level. So, when we talk about these important measures, they could be things from abortion to gay rights to taxes to tobacco, alcohol—a lot of these sorts of everyday laws that govern our lives. And so again, like we mentioned, it's really important these choices that we make, these votes that happen. And this year, there are some very interesting measures up on the ballot amongst all the other interesting things happening this year, in general. So, Paige and I thought it would be really important for us to discuss those with the audience today. So, listeners, remember, if you get lost, go online and check out that audio guide and transcript. Okay, Paige. This year we have a lot of different state measures, but how about we start out with a few that are important to highlight for our listeners.

Paige: Yeah, I think a good one to start with is one that we've seen throughout most of the past elections is about legalizing marijuana. As most people probably don't know outside the US that marijuana is federally illegal. And so, it's only legal in certain states that have voted on it in this similar way, generally through a ballot, or through their state legislator that was signed through their governor. But a lot of the initiatives have been through the ballot so for this election, four states that are trying to legalize it are Montana, Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota. If they legalize it, that would be four more states that it's legal to buy and use marijuana. That's kind of the different thing about US policies is that federally it's illegal but in the states that have legalized it. Maybe these four states will add to it after November, and so that's been something where every election, a new state has been added to the list, more or less. I know in my state of Massachusetts, we legalized it through a ballot initiative. In Missouri, is it legal, Ian?

Ian: Yeah, so it's not recreationally legal, but I think last year or the year before, Missouri passed a ballot measure as well for medical marijuana, so now you can get it with a medical license but not quite fully legal like Massachusetts yet.

Paige: And that's why it's important to know all of these different state laws because you might think it's legal everywhere, but it's only legal in certain states. So, if you're ever traveling to the US and want to use marijuana, you should look up what states have legalized it since. So, I think marijuana is a big one. Speaking of substances, there are some really big ones on taxing cigarettes. Cigarettes are widely used in the US, and there's usually, in each state, a tax on cigarettes, and then sometimes through ballot initiatives, they try to increase the tax. And so, I saw that in two states they're trying to increase it quite significantly—almost two to three times the amount that is already taxed. I’m not sure if maybe that wave comes from the surge in e-cigarettes or what have you.

Ian: So, the states that are voting on these tobacco measures this year are Oregon and Colorado, and these two states, something it's also interesting to point out, these two states typically are states that we in the United States refer to as “blue” states when it comes to voting. And when we say blue states, that's kind of referring to more liberal, Democrat. States are either “blue” or they're “red.” So, red is the opposite of the Democratic Party, we have the Republican Party and more conservative voting. Especially, I think more for these tobacco tax initiatives, we usually see these in more blue states than red states. For example, I am from Missouri which is almost always a red state so we have very low tobacco taxes, very low tobacco prices. And so typically, we don't have big ballot measures like this but I would probably guess that it's different in Massachusetts where you live, Paige. Is that accurate?

Paige: Yeah, as you were saying Ian, Massachusetts is historically a blue state, so we're very liberal where we actually are called “Taxachusetts.”

Ian: I've never heard that.

Paige: Yeah, a lot of people call us that because we have high taxes, where you have a lot of social programs, we invest more than the average state in education and by doing that we tax more, which is like property taxes, liquor taxes, tobacco tax, etc. And so, what's funny is Massachusetts is in New England and our neighboring state of New Hampshire is all about no tax. So, they have no sales tax, no cigarette tax, and we're so close to the border that a lot of people from Massachusetts buy their cigarettes in New Hampshire, or buy their groceries or whatever, and get no tax but then live in Massachusetts and get all the social benefits.

Ian: Funny. In all of my life, I've never heard that name before but it sounds fitting.

Paige: Yeah, I mean if you grew up in the New England area, you would know of it.

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Paige: Yeah, so like Ian was saying, there's a lot of initiatives, in general, every election that are really important for the states. Some other ones that I saw that were interesting was about elections. California has two ballot initiatives—one, allowing seventeen-year-olds to vote in the primary (election). So, the primary is really important in the US, especially for a presidential election. If you turn eighteen in the general election, you couldn't vote in the primary, so that's something they're trying to change so that you could vote for the whole election because you'll turn eighteen by the general election. The other one they had on elections was allowing felons who served their time in prison and are now on parole, that are allowed to vote. In most states, felons—regardless of whether they're out (of prison) or not—are not allowed to vote ever.

Ian: Right, so these are some pretty important ballot measures and pretty progressive in that sense. Like you mentioned, most states don't allow felons, whether they've served their time, and they could have been out of prison for thirty years, and they still aren't legally allowed to vote. And, like you mentioned as well, right now in the United States, eighteen is the age for voting and so by moving it down a year, this allows more voting for, like you mentioned, the primary election since the election process is so long, leading up to the actual time to vote. And in order to pick the best candidates, you first have to start with the primary voting to decide who is going to actually run and represent their party. Like you mentioned, it's so important. You have a number of seventeen-year-olds who maybe in a few months are going to be able to vote for the president but they're not able to voice their opinion, who that's going to be in the end. I don't want to say it's backwards, but you would allow for a lot more democracy, a lot more choices, you could shorten that period a little bit more with that age restriction.

Paige: I think it's interesting coming out of California because it is one of the largest states in the US, and so you're going to add to your voting population by allowing felons, and then also allowing seventeen-year-olds. So that could really swing, maybe, some elections if you're adding thousands of people now.

Ian: You make a good point. California is the state with the biggest population in the US, which also means they have the biggest Electoral College. And so, as a blue state—as the biggest state and a blue state—this is a big initiative to try to pass both of these ballots. So, it's not surprising to see it from a state like California, but I think it will be surprising, or interesting, to see how these ballot measures turn out and if these laws will change for future elections.

Paige: Exactly. And I think something to note is that normally there are more ballot initiatives and kind of bigger issues at stake, but given COVID, the year we've had, I think that, unfortunately, this pandemic has just consumed everyone. that there's a lot less ballot initiatives than there normally is. So, normally you see some pretty contentious, controversial issues that that you will vote on depending on the state you're in.

Ian: Yeah, that's a good point to make.

Paige: But in Chile, they probably have the biggest ballot initiative coming up in just a couple of weeks on the new constitution. So, that will be really interesting to see how that turns out.

Ian: You're right. I think the next few months are going to bring us a lot of interesting and world-changing results, so stay tuned.

Paige: So, that was just a quick overview of some of the stuff that we're seeing in individual states here in the US. If you get lost, check out that audio guide and transcript online and as always, thanks for listening.

Ian: We'll see you next time.

Paige: “Coffee with Gringos” was brought to you by Dynamic English, where you can learn English simply by using it. If you’re interested in taking classes or just want to learn more, go to our website at dynamicenglish.cl. Thanks for listening.

Key Vocabulary, Phrases & Slang:

 1.     ballot (noun): the piece of paper used to record someone’s vote.

a.     I had my ballot sent by email this year.  

2.     legislator (noun): a person who makes laws in government.

a.     The measures were presented by the state legislator.

3.     recreationally (adverb): for enjoyment, for fun.

a.     I love playing sports recreationally because there is no pressure to win.

4.     substances (noun): intoxicating chemicals or drugs such as tobacco or alcohol.

a.     The majority of states have taxes on the sale of substances like alcohol and tobacco.

5.     surge (noun): sudden increase.

a.     We have seen a surge in online working since the beginning of the pandemic.

6.     e-cigarettes (noun): electronic cigarettes.

a.     E-cigarettes are very popular nowadays.

7.     what have you (phrase): used at the end of a list to refer generally to other similar things not included.

a.     She loves to eat fruit like strawberries, cranberries, bananas, what have you.

8.     neighboring (adjective): next to or very near another place.

a.     The neighboring state does not have an alcohol tax.

9.     fitting (adjective): appropriate or accurate for something particular.

a.     It’s very fitting that his dog’s name is “Giant” since he is so big.

10.  felon (noun): a person convicted of a serious crime.

a.     Most states do not allow felons to vote.

11.  parole (noun): the release of a prisoner temporarily or permanently before the completion of their sentence due to good behavior.

a.     Even though he is on parole, he isn’t allowed to vote in the upcoming election.

12.  to swing (verb): to have a decisive influence on something, usually a vote or election.

a.     The candidates hope to swing the voters in important states in order to win.

13.  Electoral College (noun): a group of electors representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.

a.     Donald Trump won the 2016 election thanks to the Electoral College.

14.  to turn out (phrasal verb): to result, to happen.

a.     It will be interesting to see how the voting turns out this year.

15.  at stake (phrase): at risk, in question.

a.     There are so many things at stake this year with the ballot measures.

16.  contentious (adjective): controversial; likely to cause an argument

a.     The contentious measures made the legislators wonder what would happen in the end.