Voters reject pot legalization, alien-monitoring panel

Voters dealt blows to the anti-extraterrestrial lobby and to pro-marijuana factions Tuesday in a series of offbeat ballot initiatives around the country. Here's our list:

Aliens

Aliens are free to fly over Denver undisturbed. City voters turned down an initiative to create a space-alien-monitoring commission and to let residents post sightings on the city's website.

Marijuana legalization

Supporters of California's Proposition 19 were hoping young people would turn out in droves to back the legalization of possessing and growing small amounts of marijuana in the Golden State. But the measure went down by a double-digit margin, the Los Angeles Times reports. "If they think they are going to be back in two years, they must be smoking something," Prop. 19 opposition leader Tim Rosales crowed.

Sharia

Early estimates indicate about 70 percent of Oklahomans voted to ban judges from using sharia law in the state. Sharia law refers to varying legal interpretations of the Quran, Islam's holy book. Critics have questioned why the state would need to outlaw something that doesn't exist in U.S. courts in the first place, but the measure's sponsor says it's a "pre-emptive" strike.

Rhode Island name change

Rhode Island voters overwhelmingly decided to keep the state's official name, "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Opponents of the motto wanted "plantations" removed because they said the word connotes slavery.

Two controversial ballot initiatives that were also voted down:

Fetal 'personhood'

Colorado's controversial Amendment 62 would have guaranteed constitutional rights at "the moment of biological beginning," effectively banning abortion in the state. Voters rejected it 3 to 1--essentially replicating the majority that turned down a similar measure in 2008.

Rescinding carbon emissions limits

With more than 90 percent of votes counted, about 60 percent of Californians have rejected a measure to roll back the state's limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Business groups funded by oil companies spent millions to try to reverse the law. GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger counts the law as his signal achievement in office.

(Photo of a young Californian demonstrating in favor of Prop. 19, which failed Tuesday: AP)