Mississippi • Voters shot down a referendum Tuesday that would have effectively banned abortions in the state, rejecting an initiative that said life begins at conception.

The so-called personhood initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion. Supporters of the initiative wanted to provoke a lawsuit to challenge the landmark ruling.

The measure divided the medical and religious communities in this Bible Belt state and caused some of the most ardent abortion opponents, including Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, to waver with their support.

Opponents said the measure could make birth control, such as the morning-after pill or the intrauterine device, illegal. It could also deter physicians from performing in vitro fertilization because they would fear criminal charges if an embryo doesn't survive.

Mississippi already has tough abortion regulations and only one clinic where the procedures are performed, making it a fitting venue for a national movement to get abortion bans into state constitutions.

Mississippi already requires parental or judicial consent for any minor to get an abortion, mandatory in-person counseling and a 24-hour wait before any woman can terminate a pregnancy.

Magnolia state voters also elected Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant as governor. He defeated Johnny DuPree, mayor of Hattiesburg, and the first African-American gubernatorial nominee for a major party. Bryant will take office Jan. 10 to succeed Republican Haley Barbour, who couldn't seek a third term under state law.

Ohio • In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich in state seen as key in the 2012 presidential election, Ohio's new law restricting collective bargaining was defeated Tuesday after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the Republican establishment.

Voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers by barring them from striking and taking off the bargaining table the issues of health insurance and pensions.

Labor and business interests poured more than $30 million into the nationally watched campaign, and turnout was high for an off-year election.

Defeat of the law is anticipated to energize the labor movement, which largely supports Democrats, ahead of President Barack Obama's re-election effort.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said victory for unions was achieved among Democrats and Republicans in urban and rural counties.

"Ohio sent a message to every politician out there: Go in and make war on your employees rather than make jobs with your employees, and you do so at your own peril," he said.

Elsewhere on the ballot, Ohio voters approved a proposal to prohibit people from being required to buy health insurance as part of the national health care overhaul. The vote was mostly symbolic, but Republicans planned to use it in a legal challenge.

The collective-bargaining law hadn't taken effect yet. Tuesday's result means the state's current union rules will stand, at least until the GOP-controlled Legislature determines its next move. Republican House Speaker William Batchelder predicted last week that the more palatable elements of the collective bargaining bill — such as higher minimum contributions on worker health insurance and pensions — are likely to be revisited after the dust settles.

Earlier this year, thousands of people swarmed the Statehouse in protest when the bill was being heard. The legislation still allowed bargaining on wages, working conditions and some equipment.

Kasich and fellow supporters promoted the law as a means for local governments to save money and keep workers. Their effort was supported by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business-Ohio, farmers and others.

We Are Ohio, the largely union-funded opponent coalition, painted the issue as a threat to public safety and middle-class workers, spending millions of dollars on TV ads filled with images of firefighters, police officers, teachers and nurses.

Washington • Voters approved a plan to privatize liquor sales and dismantle controls that have been in place since Prohibition, siding with retailing giant Costco in the costliest initiative campaign in state history. Unofficial results showed the measure with 60 percent support in early returns. Costco Wholesale Corp. had committed $22 million to supporting the measure.

Wholesalers provided much of the opposition funding, as retailers will now be able to bypass them and buy product directly from producers. The new rules go into effect in June, and about 1,000 people who currently operate the state's system will lose their jobs.

Costco had backed another privatization measure that failed last year with 47 percent of the vote. Acknowledging that the 2010 proposal wasn't ideal, supporters returned this year with a plan that includes more revenue for state and local governments, as well as stricter controls on which stores can sell liquor.

The measure will end Washington's state-run liquor system, which was formed in the 1930s in the aftermath of Prohibition, and allow stores larger than 10,000 square feet to sell liquor. Opponents pointed to an exemption in the law that could allow smaller stores to sell liquor if there are no other outlets in a trade area.

Kentucky • Voters overwhelmingly re-elected Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, over Republican Senate President David Williams, who campaigned on claims the incumbent didn't do enough to create jobs in a state where one in 10 workers is unemployed.

Beshear won a second term in a red state despite a bleak budget picture and a state unemployment rate above the national average.