NEW YORK (CBS) -- Voters across the country voted on a variety of state ballot measures, including state Constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage and restrictions on abortion.
One of the most high-profile (and undecided) ballot initiatives is California's Proposition 8, which would eliminate the right of same-sex couples under the state constitution to marry, and would provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
Similar measures have prevailed previously in 27 states, but none were in California's situation - with thousands of gay couples already married in the aftermath of a state Supreme Court ruling in May.
Reporting on Proposition 8, Barbara Simon, Executive Producer of CBS News on LOGO, says polls have gone back and forth with extremely slim margins, and right now, approval of Prop. 8 is leading by three points, according to a poll from our CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco. The margin of error is 4.
Similar ballot measures banning same-sex marriage were up for vote in Arizona and Florida. CBS News projects that Arizona voters have passed the same-sex marriage ban.
CBS News projects that voters in South Dakota voted down Measure 11, which would have prohibited abortions except in cases where the mother's life or health is at a substantial and irreversible risk, and in cases of reported rape and incest. If it had passed, it would likely have triggered a legal challenge which could have lead to the U.S. Supreme Court and a reconsideration of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established the right to abortion.
In Arizona, voters rejected Proposition 202 which would have modified laws relating to the employment of unauthorized aliens; the law would also have fined employers who pay improperly reported cash wages.
In Colorado, CBS News projects that voters rejected Amendment 48, which would have defined the term "person" to include any human being from the moment of fertilization.
Colorado voters are also deciding on Amendment 46, which would prohibit discrimination by the state or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. According to a poll taken in late October by CBS station KCNC in Denver and the Rocky Mountain News, 53 percent of registered voters in Colorado support the amendment.
In Maryland, voters approved video slot machines.
In Massachusetts, voters had to decide on a ballot measure eliminating the state's income tax. Question One proposed eliminating the 5.3 percent income tax by January 2010. According to projections, the ballot question was not passed.
In Michigan, voters passed (by a margin of 63% to 37%) a legislative initiative to permit the use and cultivation of marijuana for specified medical conditions.
In Nebraska, CBS News projects that Nebraska voters are going to pass Measure 424, a constitutional amendment banning affirmative action, by prohibiting the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education or public contracting, although there would exceptions for certain federal programs.
And in Washington State, voters approved, 59%-41%, Measure 1000 which would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents, who are medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.
Click here for updated, complete election results by state.
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