[JURIST] A ballot measure to prohibit holders of government contracts totaling more than $100,000 from contributing to political parties or candidates appeared to win narrow approval from Colorado voters Tuesday, while a similar measure in South Dakota was easily rejected. In Colorado, Initiative 59 [text, PDF] (also called Amendment 54) amends the state constitution to ban such "pay to play" practices. The official results Thursday (with 95 percent of precincts reporting) were:

Yes - 1,050,049 - 51 percent
No - 994,366 - 49 percent

Opponents of the measure say the amendment violates freedom of speech because it broadly extends campaign contribution prohibition to include family members and union members. Rocky Mountain News has more.

In South Dakota, Initiated Measure 10 [text] would have banned government funds from being used for campaigning or lobbying, and also would have limited political donations for some people holding state contracts. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the official results were:

No - 232,631 - 65 percent
Yes - 127,042 - 35 percent

Opponents of the measure said it limited free speech and would have wasted taxpayer money. AP has more.

As of Thursday, it was still too soon to tell whether Oregon voters passed Measure 64 [text, PDF], which would prohibit public resources, including money collected by public employee unions from payroll deductions, from being used to collect money being used for a political purpose. The measure was gaining nominal support on Thursday, with results as follows:

Yes - 78,3090 - 50%
No - 79,7066 - 50%

Those opposing the measure say public employee unions would be unfairly harmed. The Register-Guard has more.