In The News 
A62 campaign announced
Proponents of a ballot question asking Colorado voters to essentially ban abortion in Colorado launched their campaign last week. The Personhood Colorado campaign launched a Web site to convince voters to back Amendment 62, an initiative that would define the term “person” in the state constitution as being from the “beginning of the biological development of that human being.”
Measures on pot, pollution trail in Field Poll
Voters are poised to reject a ballot measure to legalize adults' recreational use of marijuana in California and another that would suspend the state's landmark greenhouse gas reduction law, according to a Field Poll of to be released today. The poll, which also shows that likely November voters strongly support a measure to make it easier for the Legislature to pass a budget, marks a key starting point for the final months of campaigning.
Secure Arkansas petitions short of signatures
Secure Arkansas apparently will not qualify its constitutional amendment for the 2010 ballot. The amendment aimed to prohibit public benefits for undocumented immigrants, though Arkansas officials have said few, if any, are being provided. The measure is viewed as an attempt to discourage immigrant settlement in Arkansas. An accounting firm hired by the secretary of state completed today counting the raw number of signatures the group had submitted on petitions by last Friday's deadline.
Sales tax foes upbeat on prospects
Antitax crusaders yesterday triumphantly turned in what they called a “challenge proof’’ number of voter signatures in their attempt to put on the November ballot a measure halving the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax. The push to lower the tax to 3 percent has been tried before, but supporters say the recession has created a newly favorable climate for passage. Opponents warn the measure would cut state income by $2 billion or more, gutting budgets for police, teachers, and programs protecting the poor.
Judge Yanks Redistricting Amendment from Fall Ballot
A Tallahassee judge on Thursday knocked the Legislature’s proposed constitutional amendment dealing with redistricting standards off the ballot, saying he couldn’t easily understand what it would do so it was unreasonable to expect voters could. Amendment 7 was put on the November ballot by lawmakers earlier this year after two other amendments dealing with redistricting were cleared to go before voters.
Healthcare, Casino Gambling Petitions Come up short
Federal health care opponents rebounded Tuesday from a failed ballot initiative with a proposed Michigan Healthcare Freedom Act to be introduced in the Legislature this month. The proposed act asserting Michiganians' right to opt out of a federal health care plan was announced by Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, and Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, as part of a press conference by organizers of the drive to get the issue on the November ballot.
Big money commands attention and protest in Missouri
Missouri lawmakers might take a look next year at making it harder for activists with deep pockets to pour millions of dollars into statewide initiative petition campaigns. For instance, Rex Sinquefield has sunk $6.8 million into an effort to repeal the 1 percent earnings tax in Kansas City and St. Louis. He’s expected to spend millions more.
Six citizen initiatives may make Oregon’s November ballot
Six citizen initiatives turned in enough signatures to make Oregon's November ballot by Friday's deadline -- if the signatures are found valid by the Secretary of State's office. A measure that would create a system of medical marijuana dispensaries, and one that would increase minimum sentences for sex crimes and drunk drivers turned signatures in early and are likely to make the ballot, Secretary of State Kate Brown said.
Judge upholds statute on petitions
U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle suffered a mild setback Wednesday in her effort to make Nevada ballot initiative laws more user friendly when a federal judge determined a statute regarding signature petitions is constitutional. But the court hearing wasn't a total loss for the Republican candidate. U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan also ordered Secretary of State Ross Miller to remove a provision that requires petition circulators to swear under oath the signatories are legally registered voters.
Petitioners see domain issue for ballot
A statewide initiative is underway to get an issue placed on the ballot for the November 2011 election. Petitions are being passed around the county as part of this effort for Initiative No. 31, which could change eminent domain in the state. Initiative No. 31, if put on the ballot and passed, will amend the state constitution to keep the government “from taking private property by eminent domain and then transferring it to other persons.”
