Citizens in Charge

(LAKE RIDGE, VA) – Today, Citizens in Charge Foundation, a transpartisan national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, and a coalition of other citizen rights groups applauded Thursday’s decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District to protect the First Amendment privacy of sensitive campaign information in court proceedings related to ballot title language of citizen initiatives.

Montana elections officials have found forged signatures on petitions for a proposed measure dealing with wildlife in at least four counties.

Perhaps citizen initiative rights will become part of the Nevada Senate race:

Last week the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on favor of petition signature disclosure, but an article at Crosscut.com says there is certainly more to come in this case:

Pensacola, Florida now joins a list with Big Spring, Texas; Howard County, Maryland; and North Platte, Nebraska.

Nebraska’s Secretary of State says he has “every confidence” that the state’s requirement that people who collect signatures on a petition live in the state will be upheld in federal court. The only problem is, residency requirements have been ruled unconstitutional at least eleven times since 1997. Only once, in North Dakota, did a court uphold a residency requirement, and later courts criticized that ruling as improperly decided. In light of this, one really has to wonder where the secretary’s confidence comes from.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger welcomes the 2010 Global Forum and U.S. Conference on Initiative & Referendum to the state:

It is a pleasure to send my warmest greetings to all who have come together for your 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy…

I am glad you have chosen California to showcase direct democracy. Groups like yours are crucial to fueling the debate that is allowed by our land of freedom.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued their decision on the Doe v Reed case out of Washington State earlier today. The Court ruled 8-1 in favor of Reed, which means it ruled in favor of public disclosure of petition signers. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion, with Justice Thomas writing the lone dissent. To read a pdf of the decision click here.

Some folks are upset that a bust of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was put up at the National D-Day Memorial and have started up a petition to have it removed. This is not a petition signature drive to place a measure on the ballot. The National D-Day Memorial is located in Virginia, a state which has no state-wide initiative process.

To check out the petition click here.

There is great news out of Utah this afternoon. The Utah Supreme Court ruled in favor of citizen petition rights:

The Utah Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that state election officials must accept online petition signatures to qualify individuals for the ballot.

Last October Citizens in Charge Foundation honored Healthy Democracy Oregon with the Lilburned Award for that month. They received the award for their creation of the Citizen Initiative Review. This panel is made up of voters in the state that are picked at random, they then hear arguments from both opponents and proponents of a given ballot measure. Once the arguments are heard they panel produces a “Citizen Statement” that is distributed to voters, giving them a fair and accurate picture of what they are voting on.

Pick an issue you’re passionate about, it could any issue really…and now imagine that issue is going nowhere. It is stuck in a state legislature, a city council, or even Congress. You and thousands like you are still passionate about it, and you want to see movement on that issue….you want it resolved.

Come this November, voters in Nevada will only have politicians to vote for on the ballot, and no citizen initiatives:

For the first time since 1992, Nevada voters will find no question on their November ballot that qualified as the result of a citizen’s initiative petition, the secretary of state’s office has reported.

Check out our Flickr account for new pictures from the Switzerland Initiative Tour. A few are already posted with more on the way, so make sure to check back frequently.

Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob and Exec. Director Amanda Roman recently traveled to Switzerland to learn about the initiative & referendum process and direct democracy in Europe. IRI Europe is one groups co-hosting the 2010 Global Forum in San Francisco next month, and they brought over a group of people from the U.S. to learn about and discuss citizen initiative rights.