GOP escalates fight against citizen-led ballot initiatives
2 years, 3 months ago

GOP escalates fight against citizen-led ballot initiatives

Associated Press  

— Hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions this year backing proposed ballot initiatives to expand voting access, ensure abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona, Arkansas and Michigan. “What is happening now is just a web of technicalities to thwart the process in states where voters are using the people’s tool to make an immediate positive change in their lives,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which has worked with progressive groups sponsoring the blocked initiatives. “I think the Legislature is a much purer way to get things done and it represents the people much better, rather than having this jungle where you just throw it on the ballot,” said South Dakota state Rep. Tim Goodwin, who has perennially targeted the initiative process with restrictions. It would get even harder if voters support a legislatively referred amendment on the November ballot that would require a 60% vote to approve citizen-initiated ballot measures or future constitutional amendments.

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History of this topic

Trio of ballot failures leads marijuana backers to refocus their efforts for recreational weed
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Trio of ballot failures leads marijuana backers to refocus their efforts for recreational weed

Associated Press  

The movement to legalize recreational marijuana has run into a wall of resistance, failing in all three states where it was on the ballot this year and leading proponents to weigh a tactical shift focused more on state legislatures and the federal government. It’s “going to be a potentially tougher hill to climb going forward to enact legalization in the …

Florida rejects marijuana legalization measure, other states still pending
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Florida rejects marijuana legalization measure, other states still pending

Salon  

On Nov. 5, voters in four red states will cast their ballots for legalizing cannabis and marijuana, the extracts from the plant. “It’s certainly not crazy to think you might see some other very conservative Southern states follow along, if Florida adopts it.” North Dakota: Measure 5 In North Dakota, advocates are hoping the third time's a charm in legalizing …

Voters appear ready to reject Arizona’s abortion ‘compromise’
1 month, 4 weeks ago

Voters appear ready to reject Arizona’s abortion ‘compromise’

Politico  

Passage of Arizona’s measure would undermine the argument from the country’s biggest anti-abortion groups and leading GOP officials — including Virginia Gov. “It’s a new paradigm we’d have to overcome.” In the final weeks of the election, despite polls showing the initiative is far more popular than either presidential candidate, Arizona conservatives insist the state’s current law is their secret …

Arizona and Missouri will put abortion rights on the ballot
4 months, 1 week ago

Arizona and Missouri will put abortion rights on the ballot

LA Times  

Arizona abortion rights supporters gather for a news conference before delivering more than 800,000 petition signatures to the state Capitol to get abortion rights on the November general election ballot on July 3, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats have made abortion rights a central message since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022 — and it is a …

Proposal to block casino plans OK’d for Arkansas ballot; medical marijuana backers given more time
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Proposal to block casino plans OK’d for Arkansas ballot; medical marijuana backers given more time

Associated Press  

— A proposal aimed at blocking a planned casino in Arkansas qualified for the November ballot on Wednesday after election officials said supporters turned in more than enough signatures to qualify. Secretary of State John Thurston’s office said it verified that Local Voters in Charge, the group behind the casino measure, submitted at least 116,200 valid signatures from registered voters …

Arkansas election officials checking signatures of 3 measures vying for November ballot
5 months, 2 weeks ago

Arkansas election officials checking signatures of 3 measures vying for November ballot

Associated Press  

— Supporters of proposals to expand Arkansas’ medical marijuana program and repeal a casino license turned in thousands of signatures on Friday to try and get their measures before voters in the November election. “Our canvassers found voters eager to place an amendment on the ballot that will eliminate barriers to access and make it less expensive to acquire and …

Abortion rights advocates in Arizona submit needed signatures to put issue on November ballot
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Abortion rights advocates in Arizona submit needed signatures to put issue on November ballot

LA Times  

Volunteers Judy Robbins, from left, and Lara Cerri collect Grace Harders’ signature on a petition to enshrine the right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution in April in Phoenix. Arizona abortion rights supporters on Wednesday turned in more than double the signatures needed to put the issue on November’s ballot in the key swing state. Politics Meet Arizona’s most powerful …

GOP lawmakers try to thwart abortion rights ballot initiative in South Dakota
10 months ago

GOP lawmakers try to thwart abortion rights ballot initiative in South Dakota

Associated Press  

— South Dakota’s Republican-led Legislature is trying to thwart a proposed ballot initiative that would enable voters to protect abortion rights in the state constitution. If voters approve it, the three-paragraph addition to the South Dakota Constitution would ban the state from regulating abortion in the first trimester and allow regulations for the second trimester “only in ways that are …

GOP state lawmakers try to restrict ballot initiatives, partly to thwart abortion protections
1 year, 7 months ago

GOP state lawmakers try to restrict ballot initiatives, partly to thwart abortion protections

Associated Press  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With other state lawmakers seated around her in the Ohio House, Democratic state Rep. Tavia Galonski got to her feet and began to loudly chant, “One person, one vote!” The former Teamster’s cry spread quickly through the visitors gallery, then began to rise from the throng of protesters gathered outside in the statehouse rotunda. Last week’s striking …

GOP state lawmakers try to restrict ballot initiatives, partly to thwart abortion protections
1 year, 7 months ago

GOP state lawmakers try to restrict ballot initiatives, partly to thwart abortion protections

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy With other state lawmakers seated around her in the Ohio …

"Can't win, so they cheat": GOP tries to keep abortion rights off ballot after big losses
1 year, 7 months ago

"Can't win, so they cheat": GOP tries to keep abortion rights off ballot after big losses

Salon  

This article originally appeared at Common Dreams. Last year, after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal right to abortion, voters in Kansas, California, Michigan, Vermont, Kentucky, and Montana used the ballot initiative process to show their support for reproductive freedom, both by defeating GOP-backed anti-abortion measures and approving constitutional amendments aimed at preserving abortion access. As The New York …

GOP-backed Arizona ballot measures target voter initiatives
2 years, 1 month ago

GOP-backed Arizona ballot measures target voter initiatives

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Arizona voters who began mailing in their ballots after simply signing and dating the envelope in recent weeks might be doing so for the final time with that simple process. Three other measures also placed on the ballot by Republicans who control the Legislature would make major changes to the citizen initiative process by making it harder for …

Arizona Supreme Court keeps voting rights measure off ballot
2 years, 3 months ago

Arizona Supreme Court keeps voting rights measure off ballot

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — A voter initiative rolling back Republican-backed election law changes and expanding voting access will not appear on the November ballot, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday, issuing a final death knell after an on-again off-again series of court rulings. The high court decision upholds a lower court ruling issued hours earlier, in which Maricopa County Superior Court Judge …

Arizona Supreme Court rejects challenges to 2 initiatives
2 years, 4 months ago

Arizona Supreme Court rejects challenges to 2 initiatives

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected challenges to two voter initiatives filed for November’s ballot, one already certified for the ballot and a second that appears likely to make it when a final signature verification is complete. Doug Ducey and the opponents of the measures disagreed and asked the Supreme Court to throw out any petitions gathered …

Ruling puts Arizona voting access initiative on life support
2 years, 4 months ago

Ruling puts Arizona voting access initiative on life support

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — An Arizona voter initiative that would expand voting access and roll back tightened election laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Attorney Korey Langhofer, who represents the pro-business Arizona Free Enterprise Club in the challenge to the election measure, said appeals are likely by his group and the initiative’s backers to Maricopa County Superior …

Arkansas officials OK signatures for marijuana initiative
2 years, 4 months ago

Arkansas officials OK signatures for marijuana initiative

Associated Press  

— Supporters of a recreational marijuana initiative have turned in the required number of valid signatures, moving the measure closer to appearing on Arkansas’ ballot this fall, election officials said Friday. A spokesman for the secretary of state’s office said supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment had reached the 89,151 valid signatures from registered voters needed to qualify for the …

Initiatives battle for voter rights in Michigan
2 years, 5 months ago

Initiatives battle for voter rights in Michigan

Associated Press  

LANSING, Mich. — An effort to lock certain voting rights in the Michigan Constitution has taken a major step toward the fall ballot, eclipsing a rival campaign led by Republicans to limit absentee voting and add other restrictions. The ballot question would expand voter rights by allowing nine days of in-person early voting, state-funded absentee ballot postage and drop boxes …

3 Arizona ballot measures filed, but abortion effort fails
2 years, 5 months ago

3 Arizona ballot measures filed, but abortion effort fails

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Signatures to qualify a ballot measure that would reverse or block Republican efforts to tighten election rules was one of three initiatives filed in Arizona Thursday, but backers of a last-minute effort to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution failed to collect enough signatures to make the November ballot. Progressive groups who want voters to counter GOP …

Pot legalization advocates launch ballot initiative campaign
3 years, 2 months ago

Pot legalization advocates launch ballot initiative campaign

Associated Press  

— Advocates for legalizing recreational marijuana in South Dakota announced Tuesday they are trying for a second time to legalize cannabis possession and cultivation for adults through a ballot initiative. South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws said it would launch a signature-gathering campaign in the coming days after the Secretary of State approved a ballot initiative proposal for circulation Tuesday. …

Arizona Legislature set to send initiative changes to ballot
3 years, 5 months ago

Arizona Legislature set to send initiative changes to ballot

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers are poised to send two more measures changing the rules for citizen initiatives to the ballot for voter approval, joining another one that was referred to the 2022 ballot on Friday. The measure approved for the ballot last week would change the Constitution and give the Legislature more power to alter citizen initiatives approved by voters …

Despite business warnings, GOP moves ahead with voting bills
3 years, 7 months ago

Despite business warnings, GOP moves ahead with voting bills

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. More than 50 companies and business organizations, including some in Texas, released an open …

Despite business warnings, GOP moves ahead with voting bills
3 years, 7 months ago

Despite business warnings, GOP moves ahead with voting bills

Associated Press  

AUSTIN, Texas — Republican lawmakers around the country are pressing ahead with efforts to tighten voting laws, despite growing warnings from business leaders that the measures could harm democracy and the economic climate. More than 50 companies and business organizations, including some in Texas, released an open letter on Tuesday expressing opposition to “any changes” that would make it harder …

Analysis: Initiatives seek to bypass Mississippi lawmakers
3 years, 8 months ago

Analysis: Initiatives seek to bypass Mississippi lawmakers

Associated Press  

— Mississippi voters circumvented the Legislature in 2020 by approving a medical marijuana ballot initiative. The flag initiative could undo the Legislature’s historic decision last summer to retire a 126-year-old Mississippi banner that was the last state flag in the U.S. to include the Confederate battle emblem. People have been gathering signatures for months for Initiative 74, which would put …

Medical pot advocates ask lawmakers for ‘compromise’
3 years, 10 months ago

Medical pot advocates ask lawmakers for ‘compromise’

Associated Press  

— Supporters of a successful ballot measure to make medical marijuana legal in South Dakota urged state lawmakers on Monday to allow users to avoid criminal charges during any delay in implementing the program. The Republican governor’s proposal to delay was another setback for pro-pot groups after they saw a voter-passed constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana struck down by a …

Lawsuit: Keep Arizona pot initiative off ballot
4 years, 5 months ago

Lawsuit: Keep Arizona pot initiative off ballot

Associated Press  

GLENDALE, Ariz — A group opposed to legalized marijuana announced a lawsuit Tuesday against an initiative that would allow adults in Arizona to possess up to an ounce of pot. Initiatives boosting taxes on high-earning Arizonans to fund education, forbidding surprise medical billing and overhauling the state’s criminal sentencing rules face similar challenges to the summary, and two of the …

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