Lettered ballot issues to get top billing this November

Legislators passed a law this year that reorders issues on the ballot so that the referenda lawmakers send to voters come before initiatives, which are numbered.

The change is in no small part related to the failure in 2008 of Referendum O, which would have made it harder to amend the constitution by initiative but easier to enact statutory changes. There were 18 measures on the ballot that year, and at the bottom of the list — literally — was Referendum O.

The measure failed 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent, which supporters said was the result of ballot fatigue by voters.   – More -