News. Debate. Community. Levers for a better democracy.
The State of Reform
Download Unite America’s free report
Download Unite America's free report analyzing the impact of four key political reforms.
MOST READ
Get some leverage.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter.
Briefing: Changes to elections due to COVID-19
May 08 2020
Organizer: Ballotpedia
State and local governments have made many changes to election dates and procedures in response to the coronavirus pandemic. These include entire delays to election dates, expansion of absentee/by-mail voting, and adjusted candidate filing requirements. Ballotpedia's staff of elections experts will walk through the key changes that have been made so far, describe changes on the horizon for the general elections, and summarize some of the most important debates around the actions taken.
Location: Webinar
From Your Site Articles
Andrew_Rybalko/Getty Images
Coronavirus halts ballot measure progress across the country
Apr 06 2020
Presidential election years are usually the prime time for getting small-d democracy initiatives on the ballot, but the coronavirus pandemic is posing a crippling threat to many campaigns.
Social distancing pressures plus stay-at-home orders in all but a handful of states are making it nearly impossible to secure the tens of thousands of signatures needed to get initiatives on the November ballot. And because no state allows an alternate way of showing broad grassroots support — such as electronic signatures — many campaigns have halted operations.
Others are clinging to hope. Groups promoting six different ballot measures in Arizona filed lawsuits in federal and state court last week asking for permission to gather e-signatures at least during the public emergency, which has resulted in a statewide stay-at-home order through at least the end of the month.
<p>At least <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_to_ballot_measure_campaigns,_procedures,_and_policies_in_response_to_the_coronavirus_pandemic,_2020" target="_blank">18 ballot measure campaigns</a> across 10 states have suspended their in-person signature gathering efforts due to Covid-19, according to Ballotpedia. Four had initiatives related to democracy reform: Two in Arizona are promoting campaign finance regulations and voting rights improvements. One in Michigan wants to close lobbying and donor disclosure loopholes, while one in Arkansas would establish an independent redistricting commission.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Two groups that have sued, Arizonans for Fair Elections and Healthcare Rising AZ, maintain the in-person signature gathering requirement is an unconstitutional burden during a national public health crisis. If they are turned down in federal court, they say, they may have to give up on their causes until the next statewide election two years from now.</p><p>"It will be very challenging to make the ballot without digital signatures, but we will explore every option to give voters a voice on this issue in November," said Anabel Maldonado, campaign manager for Arizonans for Fair Elections.</p><p>Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a nonprofit that helps promote ballot initiatives for progressive causes, said it's too early to tell how many campaigns will be abandoned because of the Covid-19 outbreak. But she says, "these are issues that won't go away, regardless of whether they make it on the ballot or not."</p><p>In order to get their proposals before the voters in November, each of the Arizona groups needs more than 237,000 valid signatures. The complaint asks permission to use the E-Qual system to gather them — noting that system currently may be used by would-be candidates seeking spots on the ballot lines for Congress, statewide office and the Legislature.</p><p>Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said Monday that she "wouldn't oppose" expanding use of that system for ballot measures during the pandemic as "a reasonable option for protecting public health and supporting continuity in our democratic processes."</p><p><span></span>Four states and one city have already made exceptions for ballot petitions given the current circumstances. Officials in Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oklahoma and San Diego have either granted deadline extensions for signature gathering or waived other obligations.</p><p>Before the coronavirus became so widespread, 18 initiatives across 13 states had been approved for the ballot in November. Floridians will decide whether to establish a <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/florida-open-primary" target="_self">top-two open primary</a> for state elections. Colorado voters will determine whether the state allocates its nine electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.</p><p>And after a hard-fought and long-winded battle, the Virginia General Assembly voted for a second straight year for <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/virginia-redistricting-amendment" target="_self">creating an independent redistricting commission</a>, putting it on the Nov. 3 ballot for voters to have the final say.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Past turnout success complicates future ballot initiatives - The Fulcrum ›
- Ballot measures require a college education - The Fulcrum ›
- Federal court OKs e-signatures for ballot petitions - The Fulcrum ›
- Democracy reform ballot measures on track in Ark., N.D. - The Fulcrum ›
- Democracy reform ballot measures on track in Ark., N.D. - The Fulcrum ›
- Open primaries and RCV combo effort fails in San Diego - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
A federal judge ruled a law signed last year by Gov. Kristi Noem violates the free speech rights of those who gather signatures in favor of ballot measures.
South Dakota's ballot petition circulator rules held unconstitutional
Jan 13 2020
South Dakota's new regulation of people who circulate petitions for ballot initiatives is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision, if it withstands a potential appeal, would be a boon for advocates of direct democracy, which relies on small armies of people gathering signatures to put proposed changes to state laws before the entire electorate. Twenty-six states allow such citizen-led ballot measures.
A law signed by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem last year requires petition circulators to register with the secretary of state and provide personal information including home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. But those "extensive and burdensome" disclosure requirements discriminate against those advocating for ballot measures in violation of the First Amendment because the same rules didn't apply to people actively opposing the measures, U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann ruled last week.
<p>The judge also took exception to language in the law that would seemingly apply the registration rules to anyone who tells an acquaintance to support a petition. </p>
<p>"It matters not that an individual does not collect a signature from the listener, nor that the speaker does not work with someone who collects signatures," Kornmann said in his <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SD1017.pdf" target="_blank">15-page ruling</a>. "The fact that a person has entreated a member of the public to sign a petition to place a measure on the statewide election ballot is enough to make them a petition circulator under the Act."</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>SD Voice, a grassroots ballot question committee, filed the complaint challenging the new requirements.</p>
<p>The law is supposed to take effect in July, but that's too late to affect citizen-driven democracy in the state this year. Already on the ballot this November are initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana and establish a medical marijuana program, making South Dakota the first state to vote on both ideas at the same time.</p>
<p>In the dozen elections since 1996, according to <a data-linked-post="2639712887" href="https://thefulcrum.us/ballotpedia" target="_blank">Ballotpedia</a>, 74 measures have appeared on the ballot in the state and just 39 percent have been approved. Two years ago, for example, the state rejected a package of campaign finance curbs for candidates but agreed to limit out-of-state donations in future ballot measure campaigns.</p>
<p>Last week's ruling was the second legal setback in less than a year for those seeking new restrictions over the ballot measure process in South Dakota. In May, the same judge ruled that a voter-approved law banning out-of-state contributors from funding in-state signature drives was unconstitutional.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- More ballot initiatives won't make Americans feel better about ... ›
- Ballot measures require a college education - The Fulcrum ›
- Many states moving to toughen the rules for ballot initiatives - The ... ›
- Past turnout success complicates future ballot initiatives - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Ballotpedia Insights—One Nation, Two Realities: Dueling Facts in American Democracy
Nov 18 2019
Organizer: Ballotpedia
For this call, we are doing a deep dive into "One Nation, Two Realities: Dueling Facts in American Democracy." With us, we'll have authors Morgan Marietta and David Barker. The topic is something we talk about frequently among the Ballotpedia staff. Employing several years of original survey data and experiments, Marietta and Barker reach a number of enlightening and provocative conclusions: dueling fact perceptions are not so much a product of hyper-partisanship or media propaganda as they are of simple value differences and deepening distrust of authorities.
Location: Webinar
