The bit of good news from Tuesday’s election was that
Proposition 54 went down in a landslide.
After university students and public health and law enforcement
officials spent months organizing opposition to the ill-conceived
ballot initiative, voters sent a clear message that attempting to
eliminate race and ethnicity from public life is not a good idea
““ a message Ward Connerly missed.
Already, the University of California regent is saying he will
try to qualify a new racial privacy initiative for a later
election. This one, he says, will have tougher, clearer exemptions
for health and law enforcement.
Connerly is stubborn. He is refusing to acknowledge the truth
about Proposition 54 ““ that the more voters knew about it,
the less likely they were to support it.
Proposition 54’s margin of defeat Tuesday was larger than
anyone expected. Polls months before the election showed more
Californians supported the measure than opposed it. But as election
day neared, and as more people were educated about the danger the
initiative posed, Proposition 54 became less popular.
Proposition 54 did not fail because of flawed language. The
whole idea was bad. Connerly should concede defeat, but if he
doesn’t, those opposed to banning information must be
prepared to organize against him once again.