Citizen Blog
The Second House Amendment Committee, a new group formed by initiative rights activists in Nebraska, filed an initiative constitutional amendment this week to lower the signature requirements for qualifying citizen initiatives. The group also filed a campaign finance registration, which is required once at least $5,000 has been raised by a ballot committee.
“I am confident that with the dedication of our volunteers and the commitment I have secured from people who are friends to petition rights, this issue will be on the November ballot,” committee member Kent Bernbeck told reporters.
So far, 24 states have certified 59 ballot questions for 2012 statewide ballots according to the latest compilation by Ballotpedia.
Voters across the country will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on a variety of subjects like health care, affirmative action, immigration, term limits, education, property taxes, voter IDs and abortion just to name a few.
You can view the comprehensive list of measures that have qualified for statewide ballots so far here.
Ballotpedia’s final analysis on donations to all 2011 statewide ballot measure campaigns has been released; the donations add up $85 million.
The report reveals some interesting information like the fact that the state with the highest contributions from all campaign sides from all ballot measures was in Ohio. The least amount of contributions was in Arkansas.
You can also find an overview of the contributions from supporters & opponents, a ranking of ballot measures from the most to the least contributions, and the ranking of political topic contributions where “labor” shows the most donations in Ohio on Issue 2.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The straightest line in politics is a ballot initiative.
In January, Paul began working for the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIF). For many years, he has endeavored to protect the citizen initiative process (and that work will continue with Citizens in Charge Foundation & Citizens in Charge). But now he’s taking the initiative — the express train to freedom — by helping great folks all across the country place measures for greater freedom and government accountability on the ballot.
Our partner organization, Citizens in Charge Foundation - a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization - is currently accepting applications for 2012 internships. We are looking for undergraduates, grad students and recent grads from all majors as well as law students.
Today is my first day as the President & CEO 
of Citizens in Charge Foundation and Citizens in Charge - I am already hard at work building on the successes we’ve enjoyed together over the past three years and, with your support, looking forward to making even greater strides as we kick-off 2012.
152,588,520 are thanking you for supporting the efforts of Citizens in Charge and our partner organization, Citizens in Charge Foundation over the past year. As the only national organizations dedicated to protecting the initiative, referendum and recall rights of all Americans without regard to partisanship or politics, we had a busy year in 2011. The rights of 152,588,520 were defended thanks to the hard work and dedication or our transpartisan coalitions throughout the country.
You can view a list of the state projects that we engaged in last year here but, I’d like to share some of the highlights.
Yesterday’s Common Sense article from Paul Jacob touches on the Michigan recall controversy:
The state constitution of Michigan grants citizens the right to recall their elected officials, but that right may face a challenge from the state legislature:
There have been many citizen initiatives passed in many different states throughout the years. Some have been fairly mundane and inconsequential, others have been controversial.
In the last 100 years, what do you think has been the most consequential citizen initiated ballot initiative that passed into law? If you can’t come up with just one, what would be the top 5? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
This article from Citizens in Charge President Paul Jacob isn’t necessarily about initiative rights, but it’s a great piece and worth the read:
California Governor Jerry Brown will propose a ballot measure to increase taxes on the wealthiest Californians and increase the state sales tax:
The citizens of Wisconsin are an angsty bunch eh?
It’s now official. Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan will face a recall election after over 4,400 petition signatures were verified by the city clerk:
The signature gathering in Wisconsin to recall Governor Walker began in earnest nearly two weeks ago, and already they’ve collected quite a few signatures.
The United Wisconsin coalition claims to have collected 300,000 signatures in just 12 days, which puts them over halfway to the roughly 540,000 needed to force a recall election. When collecting signatures it’s not unusual for some of them to be thrown out as incorrect or unidentifiable. However, even with the bad signatures taken out the coalition to force a recall is off to a pretty effective start.
What do you think? Will those seeking to recall the governor of Wisconsin be successful in their efforts?
Citizens in Charge and Citizens in Charge Foundation would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope your day is filled with good food, family, and friends. It is a day to celebrate and remember the rights we have, but let us never forget that our work continues to protect and exand citizen initiative rights around the country.
Oh, and if you’re deep-frying your turkey try not to let this happen…
