Marijuana, Abortion and a 'Right to Hunt': Top 2010 Ballot Measures

Nov. 2, 2010— -- Voters in 37 states today will decide on a diverse mix of ballot measures that focus predominantly on fiscal policies and less on the hot-button social issues that have grabbed headlines in recent elections.

Among the 160 initiatives facing a popular up-or-down vote are attempts to ban government borrowing for public works projects in Colorado; cap property tax rates in Indiana; and slash the state sales tax by more than half in Massachusetts.

In Washington State, two initiatives would overturn the legislature's move to make tax increases easier by simple majority vote, by re-imposing a two-thirds requirement and reversing tax hikes passed earlier this year.

But in a handful of states, voters could take more controversial steps: to legalize marijuana; define a human embryo as a "person"; or establish a commission to gather evidence of extraterrestrial life.

2010 Election Maps: Follow the Senate, House and Governors' Races

Here's a look at some of the noteworthy ballot measures this year:

California could become the first state to fully legalize the cultivation, possession and transportation of marijuana, albeit a small amount (one ounce), if Proposition 19 is approved. Meanwhile, Oregon, Arizona and South Dakota could join 14 other states that allow medical use of marijuana.

Two years after Coloradoans rejected an indirect attempt to illegalize abortion by redefining a human embryo as a "person," the proposed amendment to the state constitution is back on the ballot.

The "Fetal Personhood" Amendment 62 would define "person" to include every human being from "the beginning of the biological development of that human being," or conception.