Citizens in Charge

An ethics initiative that is moving through the political system in Utah continues to cause controversy. The latest development is the whether or not the process of removing petition signatures can or should be streamlined. Citizens in Utah are allowed to remove their names from petition signature lists if they change their minds, but some are complaining that it is too difficult to do so.

Opponents of the ethics initiave want to make it easier for citizens to remove their names, which is understandable. They worry that people signed the petition without knowing what it was. While it’s alway good to protect against fraud, how many people signed the petition without ANY knowledge of what it was? Is this genuine concern to help people who were tricked? Or just a ploy to scare citizens and officials into taking names off the petition and effectively killing it?

Thoughts?