Republicans won't be able to count on "red meat" ballot initiatives to get evangelical voters to the polls in 2012.
Politico notes that there are very few ballot issues in swing states like Ohio and Florida this year that would appeal to evangelicals, so Mitt Romney will have to find other ways to mobilize these voters if he is going to win the White House.
There are signature drives ongoing in some states, and a final tally of ballot initiatives won’t be known until early August. But there are so far only a few opportunities for the Romney campaign to rely on ballot initiatives to help boost turnout in states like Florida and Missouri. Florida has three measures — one that would prohibit public funding of abortions, another that would ban the health care insurance mandate and another on religious freedom. Missouri also has a religious freedom initiative that will be voted on in November.
Ballot initiatives can increase voter turnout by a couple of points, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Jennie Drage Bowser.
“The tie between turnout and a ballot measure is clear,” Drage Bowser said. “The more controversial the better.”

