Signature Fraud

Ballot fraud happens when voters are lied to and deceived into signing petitions, and when petition gatherers use an array of tactics, such as forgery, to falsely qualify an initiative onto the ballot.

Where is ballot initiative signature fraud happening?

Starting in 2004, BISC began receiving numerous complaints across the states about abuses in signature gathering. The last three years in particular have seen a dramatic jump in the use of signature fraud across the country to qualify ballot initiatives. The problem has gone from an unfortunate byproduct of the process to the standard operating procedure for some of the leading petition firms. As the use of deceptive signature gathering practices has grown, BISC has increasingly focused its efforts on exposing the different methods that petitioners use to fool voters and break state laws, and the funders behind those efforts.

Why is fraud in the signature gathering process so prevalent?

Over the last two years, BISC has dug deep into the underbelly of signature gathering. Unfortunately, fraud in ballot measure signature gathering is often par for the course. Some of the largest and most prevalent signature firms have been using a fraudulent business model to collect signatures in initiative states across the country for years.

Their strategy is simple.

1. First the firms will move into a state and hire subcontractors (over whom the firms maintain little or no oversight) to run the signature gathering process.
2. Then these subcontractors hire nomadic signature gatherers who migrate from one state to another, chasing whichever petitions promise the greatest payday.
3. The mercenaries flood a state, at best ignorant of the state's laws governing signature collection, or at worst, actively choosing to ignore those laws.
4. These migrant signature gatherers routinely use false names or addresses and are almost impossible to track once they leave the state.

What can be done about this egregious abuse of the citizen initiative process?

BISC is an advocate of an open and honest ballot initiative process. All ballot measure campaigns - whether sponsored by conservative or progressive organizations, or petitioned through paid or volunteer signature gathering - should be required to play by the rules.

Refer to http://www.stopballotfraud.org to learn more about the problems, and solutions, in signature gathering. BISC can offer a tailored plan to address the weaknesses in signature gathering. Find more information about possible legislative opportunities under the initiative reform section.

Please contact us if you're worried about potential abuses in your state.