Ballot Integrity: Oversight and Enforcement

Often, the biggest problem with the ballot initiative process is that no single person has the authority to take action against abuse, deception, and fraud. Secretaries of State, with limited staff and resources, simply don't have the ability to provide oversight and enforcement of the system, while state legislatures have provided little support in the way of laws that allow for judicial oversight and enforcement to police fraudulent activity.

• States need to provide the authority to exclude signatures and pursue legal action against campaign committees who should ultimately be responsible for the paid signature gathering vendors and campaign circulators they employ when fraud or forgery is proven.
• States need to provide their Secretaries of State with the resources necessary to police the process and the authority to refer violations to the Attorney General for prosecution. 
• Courts need to act on allegations of fraud within a reasonable and expedited time frame to prevent any question that a ballot initiative qualified for the ballot using fraud or deception.