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LandVote 2001

American voters continued to support new endeavors to create public funding for open space protection-despite the country's unprecedented national security challenges and an economy in recession.

In a typically slow "off-year" following a Presidential election, 196 ballot measures-in 190 different communities and 24 states-were placed before voters. Of these, 137 measures were passed-a 70 percent national rate of approval-generating approximately $1.7 billion in new public funding for parks and open space.

From big cities to small towns, sprawling suburban counties to mountain gateway communities, a total of more than 1.6 million Americans cast votes to safeguard their drinking water, save working farms, create parkland and protect plant and wildlife habitat.

Most of the year's votes took place on November 6, when voters in 17 states passed 86 of 115 measures. At 75 percent this was a slightly higher rate than for the year as a whole. In total, on Election Day 2001 voters approved nearly $1.2 billion in government funding for parks and open space.

This year's 137 successful measures exceed the number passed during the last "off-year" elections. (State and local governments hold fewer elections in odd-numbered years than in even-numbered years.) In 1999, 92 measures were passed.

The state with the most local ballot measures before voters in 2001 was Massachusetts (68), with cities and towns having the first chance to take advantage of the state's Community Preservation Act, an innovative financing mechanism enacted in 2000. Other leading states were New Jersey (55), Colorado (12), and Ohio and Texas (7 each).

The largest successful ballot measure, in terms of dollars generated, occurred in:

• Morris County, New Jersey ($192 million)
• Middlesex County, NJ ($188 million)
• Santa Clara County, CA ($160 million)
• DeKalb County, GA ($125 million)
• Houston, TX ($80 million)
• McHenry County, IL ($68.5 million)
• Harris County, TX ($60 million)
• Douglas County, CO ($43 million)

Unlike previous years, no state sought to create new funding for open space through the ballot box in 2001, due in part to the fact that only two states conducted gubernatorial elections, when large ballot measures generally occur. However, Colorado voters approved the use of bonded indebtedness in order to make more rapid use of state lottery revenue approved for open space in 1992.

In this section you will find descriptions of all 2001 ballot measures. The information includes:

• State and jurisdiction of each measure
• Date the vote was held
• Description of the measure, financing terms, and total funds generated (when the measure passed)
• Election results

These results are brought to you by the Trust for Public Land and the Land Trust Alliance.