Alexandre Dulaunoy/Flickr

This isn't every attempt at direct democracy that passed or failed Tuesday, just everything that seemed like it might be of interest to a national audience.

Alabama: The Heart of Dixie never had much reason to fear that sharia law would rise up, but now it has passed a measure forbidding the use of foreign law in their courts (despite historic attachments to the Ten Commandments, a legal code first used in the Middle East). Voters also strengthened gun rights, reaffirmed the right to hunt and fish, and made it harder for the state to compel schools to spend big sums.

Alaska: The Land of the Noonday Moon made its minimum wage among the highest in the nation, better protected salmon from mining projects, and decriminalized marijuana.

Arizona: Gasdonia, a territory associated with lax product-safety standards, will let terminally ill patients access some treatments not yet approved by the FDA.

Arkansas: The Toothpick State, also known as Hillary Rodham's Purgatory, failed to legalize the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol on a statewide basis. But its voters did increase the minimum wage to $8.50. In addition, they permitted state legislators "to serve a total of 16 years in the House or Senate—thereby doubling and more than doubling the amount of time a lawmaker can stay in the Arkansas Senate and House, respectively—and establish limits on lobbying efforts by former legislators, as well as campaign donations and gifts from lobbyists."

California: The Eureka State, where the ratio of reservoir-water-to-cold-pressed-juice is approaching one-to-one, approved a $7 billion bond for the state's water system and reduced the classification of most nonviolent crimes to misdemeanors.

Colorado: The Centennial State declined to recognize the unborn as persons in the criminal code, declined to fund schools by expanding race-track gambling, and required open meetings when school boards collectively bargain with public-employee unions.

Florida: The Silver-Alert State declined to legalize medical marijuana, a drug that remains most taboo among the elderly, though 58 percent of voters favored the constitutional amendment. It required a 60-percent threshold to pass.

Georgia: The Midnight Train Terminus State prohibited increases in the maximum state income-tax rate.  

Illinois: The Land of Kanye passed a minimum-wage increase, a constitutional amendment providing that no one will be denied the right to register to vote or to cast a ballot, a millionaire tax to fund schools, and a mandate to cover prescription birth control. [Update: When looking at these results I missed the fact that the millionaire tax, birth control mandate, and minimum wage increase were advisory measures meant to gauge public opinion. So while voters have now signaled to their legislature that they want those policies they are not now binding.]

Maine: The Clarified Butter State opted to continue allowing hunters to bait bears with sugary treats before shooting them dead. Using dogs to hunt bears is also still allowed. (This reminds me of the way Portlanders tried to impress Lafayette.) Voters also considered bonds for cancer research and tissue repair laboratories.