Initiative Power

Elections officials in Pierce County are contacting all voters ages 18 to 26 and asking them to update their signatures in an effort to head off challenges and make sure their votes are counted. Washington uses signature verification to make sure voters are who they say they are. But that

Critics of the state's initiative petition system say it gives too much say to the Portland region.

Montana's Supreme Court is allowing the signatures of inactive voters to count on petitions seeking to qualify constitutional initiatives for the November ballot, including one to protect abortion rights.

Oregonians will likely decide just four or possibly five ballot measures this fall as only a pair of citizen-led initiatives appear to have garnered enough signatures by Friday’s deadline.

Proponents of a school voucher-like system have failed to collect enough signatures to put a proposed measure on the November 2024 ballot.

Mainland Republicans are trying to roll back the rights of citizens to pursue statewide ballot initiatives but island Democrats have never allowed it either.

Democrats seek to make referring a new corporate tax measure to the ballot more difficult by changing the law on electronic signature gathering.

Senate Bill 761, which seeks to restrict a popular way by which Oregonians get initiatives on the ballot, would help legislators keep tight control over what becomes – and what stays law. Legislators should trust their voters and reject this bill.

Democratic lawmakers are moving to more tightly regulate electronic petitions, which are becoming more popular for initiative, recall and referendum campaigns in Oregon.

The ruling by a three-judge panel is the most authoritative opinion yet in a monthslong battle over how Secretary of State Bev Clarno handles ballot measures.

Attacks on state-level ballot initiatives are the latest step in a strategy to wrest political power from voters and place it squarely in the hands of increasingly unaccountable politicians and special interests.

Legislative Republicans are asking voters to make it harder to put voter initiatives on the ballot.

The ballot measure process has been critical to the success of nonpartisan reforms across the country. However, according to new research by RepresentUs, 11 states have proposed over 60 laws to make i

The rising cost of paying people to gather signatures is a challenge.

Are legislatures rejecting the “will of the people” or fixing their unworkable laws?

As our representative system has become less democratic and more oligarchical, ballot initiatives have become more important to passing majoritarian legislation. The Left should take note and proceed accordingly.

Signature matching—which one expert described as “witchcraft”—could lead to thousands of legitimate ballots being thrown out.