Confusion surrounding the outcome of Proposition 72 ““
which would have forced California businesses with 50 or more
employees to provide health insurance for their workers ““ was
finally put to rest Wednesday when state election officials
declared the proposition defeated.
Proposition 72, which would have provided over one million
Californians with health care coverage, was on the Nov. 2 election
ballot and was originally thought to have been defeated.
But the proposition’s defeat was called into question due
to a report from the California Secretary of State’s office
Tuesday night stating that the addition of provisional and absentee
ballots from 17 counties had tipped the scales in its favor.
The late results were said to have pushed the proposition to a
50.5 percent victory.
But a few hours after posting the results, state election
officials removed them from the secretary of state’s Web site
suspecting that a clerical error or a computer glitch was behind
the surprising new data.
Officials decided to wait until Tuesday night ““ the
deadline for counties to tally any remaining absentee and
provisional ballots ““ before releasing the results.
Election officials announced on Wednesday that the confusion was
a result of incorrect data sent in from San Diego County after the
county sent its ballot results to the Secretary of State’s
office out of sequence, which caused the vote counts to be attached
to the wrong propositions.
Students said they were dismayed at the fate of the
proposition.
“I’m disappointed that the measure wasn’t
passed. Health care is such an important issue for so many people.
There are many families in California who needed this proposition
passed so they could afford health insurance,” said Michael
Sarge, a fourth-year political science student.
The corrected tally showed Proposition 72 with 49.1 percent of
the vote, falling short of passing by 202,854 votes. The outcome
was the closest of all 16 measures in this election.
“I was really hoping that this proposition would succeed.
It would have made health care accessible to millions of
Californians and would have relieved average workers and their
families from worrying about how they would pay for their medical
bills if an emergency happened,” said NaMee Donan, a
third-year neuroscience student who voted for the measure.
The ambiguity of the proposition might have had something to do
with why it failed to get passed, said Donald E. Morisky, chairman
of the public health department.
“There was a lot of misunderstanding on who would be
responsible for paying for the health insurance. It wasn’t
clear whether it would be the employees or the employers who would
cover most of the costs,” Morisky said.
“The legislature is currently putting together a package
to see the risk factor of employees of small companies. What is
needed is a plan that would cover a larger amount of employees for
a smaller cost and create lower premiums for individuals,” he
added.
Opponents of the proposition were against the perceived mandates
forced upon employers and many believe that before the measure
could be brought up again in future elections, issues on how to
alleviate financial pressure on employers if they are required to
provide workers with insurance need to be addressed.