We’ve all been told the importance of voting, it allows us to participate in our very own democratic society, allows us to choose who will represent us on the world stage, and most importantly it allows us to shape our own lives through the election of officials and the adoption of policies that the public wants. This is the reason all of us have been constantly reminded by our family, friends, and various corporate entities to vote. In fact, many would be hard pressed to spend a day in the two months prior to the 2018  midterms elections without being reminded to make their voice heard and finally change our seemingly hopeless government for the better. Less than 24 hours after the last polls closed, its time to analyze the election results, and determine whether or not all this advertising actually worked.

In this short amount of time since citizens first lined the streets in an attempt to make a difference in our political system,  many would argue that not much change was brought about in this election cycle, and that is certainly not true. For example, despite a projected “Blue Wave”, that would change Congress to a democrat majority, they only managed to gain a majority in the house, while Republicans furthered their senate majority with even more elected officials.  Despite this uneventful outcome of elections, the propositions  and bills that were passed statewide made history.

In Utah, all propositions except for proposition 1, which would have taxed gasoline sales at 10 cents a gallon, were passed. This includes the highly controversial proposition 2, which legalized medicinal marijuana in the state, joining Michigan and Missouri in the states the voted to legalize marijuana in some form. North Dakota did not pass its recreational marijuana vote. Not only this, but Utah and a few other states voted to redraw voting lines in an effort to curve gerrymandering, which has promoted certain political parties to successive wins by exploiting certain voting blocks.

All in all, this election was uneventful when it came to the election of government officials, yet set a new high for how effective state propositions and bills can be in attracting voters to the booths. It just goes to show that no matter how good Ben and Jerry’s Pecan Resist may be, its the people that decide the fate of the country. Also, shoutout to Beto O’Rourke, who set a new record in senate campaign fundraising, gaining over 70 million for his cause, and still losing to Ted Cruz.