Archives for January 2012

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.

Check out Ballotpedia’s analysis here.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The straightest line in politics is a ballot initiative.

LIFe logoIn 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-profitCICF Icon 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   3 citizens
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.