School vouchers fall in Utah vote

In ballot measures being decided Tuesday, Utah voters defeated the country’s first statewide school voucher program open to all children, not just those from low- or middle-income families.

The voucher program would have granted $500 to $3,000, depending on family income, for each child sent to private school. The measure was approved by the Legislature in February, but opponents gathered enough signatures to force a referendum.

New Jersey voters rejected the state’s plan to borrow $450 million over 10 years to finance stem-cell research. Gov. Jon S. Corzine campaigned heavily for the stem-cell measure and spent $200,000 of his own money on TV ads for it. But the measure was opposed by antiabortion activists, conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church.

In Oregon, residents decided against hiking the cigarette tax to pay for healthcare for kids who don’t have it.