On June 3, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Election Laws held a hearing on three bills to make it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. As it usual in Massachusetts, the committee did not take any action on the hearing day itself.
ballot initiative
Since the mid-1990s, California, Michigan, Nebraska, and Washington have passed ballot initiatives to ban affirmative action programs at the state level. Although Colorado last year narrowly rejected a similar initiative, and although petition drives failed to attract enough signatures in three other states…
Throughout the month of June we will be looking at the history and impact of the ballot initiative, referendum and recall process.
These reforms, which started gaining popularity in the late 1800s, can be traced to the political philosophy of one of our founding father, Thomas Jefferson.
We wanted to start the series with a great piece by Paul Jacob, the President of the Citizens In Charge Foundation. For over 10 years Paul has hosted and authored Common Sense, a daily radio commentary.
Lawmakers in Wisconsin, Ohio, Montana and Mississippi failed to get a freeway speed camera measure onto a ballot, but points to Maryland as an example of lawmakers’ success. He says 13 states have specific laws banning freeway cameras, but he sees a natural progression from states using red-light cameras to using freeway speed cameras.
Citizens for Limited Taxation, which has been involved in numerous ballot referendum efforts, called on lawmakers Wednesday to kill three bills that the group says will make it harder for activists to put questions before voters.
Citizens will find it easier to bring petitions to merge or abolish local governments ”” from villages to fire districts to sewer agencies ”” under legislation that won final legislative approval Wednesday night in the State Senate.
Today, Citizens in Charge Foundation, a transpartisan national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, presented Nevada State Senator Terry Care with the June 2009 John Lilburne Award. Senator Care is being recognized for standing up for the rights of Nevada voters and trying to stop legislation that would shut Nevadans out of the ballot initiative process.
Yesterday, Senator Care cast the only vote against Senate Bill 212 aimed at stifling the ballot initiative process.
ballotboxnews.com is from the Citizens in Charge Foundation. Its president is Paul Jacob.
Read the story at Block Buster Democracy
The state’s top election official has certified two initiatives, one related to local property tax exemptions and the other about using public office to enrich oneself.
Today Citizens in Charge Foundation officially launced a new website called BallotBoxNews.com, a newswire providing the latest information about ballot initiatives and government reform from around the country. Sing up for national or state specific news feeds. You can also follow BallotBoxNews on twitter.
As anyone who follows ballot measures knows, the language in a ballot questions matters a lot.The Maine Secretary of State just released the language that will be on the ballot there if opponents assemble the necessary 55,087 certified signatures.
One of the big political stories of 2009 has been the surge in American public approval for gay marriage and the growing number of states - including the heartland bastion of Iowa - that have legalized the practice, but here in Pennsylvania the pages of this political thriller are still blank.
Gov. O’Malley also signed a bill that authorizes the use of speed monitoring cameras around
the state. Opponents of the new law are attempting to challenge it through a statewide referendum initiative.
Morning voters in West Lampeter Township leaned toward lifting a 74-year-old ban on alcohol sales in their municipality, an informal survey of early balloting found.
In decisive but not overwhelming numbers, early-morning voters told the New Era they believe alcohol sales would “bring the township into the 21st century” and provide additional tax revenue and jobs.
Last week, Face The State reported on the efforts of Englewood residents to place a “homeowner immunity” measure on this November’s ballot. State law and Englewood’s city charter guarantee residents the right to place issues on the ballot upon collecting voter signatures equal to at least 5 percent of the city’s last gubernatorial vote count. While activists are hitting the pavement collecting the nearly 1,000 signatures they’ll need for ballot access, Englewood’s city council is tweaking local law to clarify the initiative and referendum process.