DIRECT DEMOCRACY WATCH 2016 edition

[Virginiá]

Another oddity is an attempt to move kentucky's election cycle to run concurrently with the Presidentiak elections, which is being pushed for by GOP legislators.

I didn't know they were pushing this. But it makes sense for the GOP to do that, assuming they want maybe gubernatorial elections on presidential election years? If so, they are probably hoping that they will completely take over the state due to people voting Republican for president and thus Republican all the way down ticket. As it stands now, Kentucky folk were voting red for Senators/US House Reps/President, but heavy Democratic for most other races (except state Senate). If there is little ticket splitting, then it will result in a powerful Republican stranglehold on Kentucky public offices.

Were this true, it would be a funny flip from conventional wisdom where Republicans have been trying to reduce the number of voters in other states (as they tend to do better when less people vote). Bizzaro world in KY.

[Virginiá]

* the pro-solar bill and medical MJ will be on the ballot in Florida

Sadly, I believe this is the "pro-solar" initiative pushed by the utilities racket here so as to prevent an even better (for consumers) initiative from getting passed. I guess they figured there was no way to stop Solar entirely, so they co-opted the effort and got their weaker version in place.

I hate my state.

* Maine will vote on background checks and possibly marijuana

This looks set to get on the ballot last I checked. The two competing teams settled their differences awhile ago and I believe one already had enough signatures, in which case further effort is simply a matter to create a buffer in case of invalid signatures.

Massachusetts had the same issue, but theirs also looks set to be put before voters this November as well.

Going to be a good year for legalization. This could be where it all changes for good

[Virginiá]

Where can I find info on which measures are approved for the state ballots?  All I can find for Michigan is the ones that are circulating or have been circulated.

This is for all currently approved measures (more to come by this summer):

https://ballotpedia.org/2016_ballot_measures

and this is a list of measures currently circulating or pending approval:

https://ballotpedia.org/Potential_2016_ballot_measures