Ballot Measure Reform
Shining the Spotlight on Ballot Measure Reform
Over the past ten years, citizens across the country have voted on over 1,500 initiatives and referenda with well over $1 billion raised and spent on the passage or defeat of issues that have a real impact on people’s lives.
However, in recent years, BISC and our partners have watched as the integrity of the system has been increasingly undermined by a lack of standards, transparency, accountability, and oversight in numerous states.
This shift shows a need for greater integrity for our ballot initiative process. From misleading and deceptive ballot language to citizens being lied to during the signature gathering phase, today’s voters are being asked to make decisions about amending their states’ laws by people who may have themselves broken the law to propose the initiative.
BISC continues to shine a spotlight on the problems that exist and the need for states to implement reform by releasing an annual Ballot Integrity Report Card. In this report, BISC examines all 24 states with the initiative process and rates each state on what it currently does and – more importantly – does not do to protect the integrity of the process at every step in the system.
For state legislators and concerned citizens, BISC also provides state specific blueprints for reform that can help states move forward and take much needed action beginning today. Only by implementing solutions to the problems that exist will states be able to provide people with a ballot measure process that works for voters instead of against them.
Together, we can work to restore integrity to an important process that helps create the foundation of our democracy.
