Powerful interest groups spent more than $785 million into 12 yes-or-no questions on this year’s ballot in California, bypassing the state legislature to put the measures to a purely democratic test. Californians, though they voted overwhelmingly blue, struck a surprising blow to affirmative action proposals, its anti-independent contractor law and rent control expansion. In the Golden State’s most expensive ballot measure campaign ever, ride-share apps such as Uber and Lyft won the right to