On Tuesday, Nov. 6, President Barack Obama was reelected as the president of the United States, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Although the results were not expected to come in until later in the evening, Obama was called by all of the major networks less than 30 minutes after west coast polls closed.
A major reason for Romney’s defeat was Obama’s support from Hispanic voters. Sophomore Luis Villegas says, “I support Obama because of his position on immigration.” Obama’s most notable piece of legislation concerning immigration reform is the DREAM Act, which would aid 1.7 million young immigrants in becoming citizens.
Villegas is one of many Hispanics that supported Obama. About 69 percent of Hispanic voters voted for Obama on Election Day, most due to his recognition and support of the Hispanic community.
Despite California being a dominantly Democratic state, not all of Aragon is for Obama. Sophomore Jahangir Rassouli says, “If I had to pick a political party, I’m probably mostly supportive of the Green Party because I think we need to change our environment, and Obama and Romney aren’t putting priority on environmental issues.”
Sophomore Elena Enioukova supports neither Obama nor Romney. She elaborates, “Romney was not smart enough to be respectful towards Obama during the presidential debate about foreign policy, and Obama, in the previous presidential election, put too much time and energy into foreign issues and not enough attention towards our own issues in the U.S.”
In addition to the presidential election, California voters decided on eleven propositions during Election Day. One proposition, Prop 34, would have repealed the death penalty in California. It did not pass, with 52.7 percent of voters voting not to repeal the death penalty.
Supporters of this proposition believe that passing Prop 34 would have saved the state money because of the high cost for defense attorneys in death penalty cases. Since 2011, California has spent about $4 billion to execute 13 people which, according to former federal judge Arthur Alarcón, is $184 million more than the cost to implement sentences for life.
In addition to the financial issue, many people supported Prop 34 because of ethical issues. Junior Jansen Yan says, “I support Prop 34 because no matter how badly someone screws up, they don’t deserve to die for their actions.”
The opposition believed that it is necessary to punish the worst criminals with death. Their belief is that without a harsh penalty system, people will start to break more laws. Many attorneys opposed this proposition due to their income being largely derived from death penalty cases.
Another major proposition in California was Proposition 37, which would have required mandatory labeling for genetically modified foods. The supporters of this proposition believe that people have the right to know what they are eating. They also believe that if people know what is in their food, it can help prevent health risks.
Rassouli strongly agrees with Prop 37. He says, “People need to know what their food is made from, and the higher costs are irrelevant. The right to know is more important.”
The opposition to Proposition 37 believes that it is a “deceptive food labeling scheme” that will create too many lawsuits and legal issues, which is especially frustrating for farmers. They also argue that it will cost the average consumer up to $400 per year, but have no statistical proof.
