Citizens in Charge

We at Citizens in Charge Foundation are happy to release Of the People, By the People, For the People: A 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights today. The report compares initiative processes throughout the country to give a clearer picture of the extent to which residents of various states have the ability to affect their government through the initiative and referendum process. You can read the full report and see how your state ranks by clicking here.

Arizona’s residency requirement for petition circulators was struck down by a U.S. District judge today. This is great news. The District judge shot down the state’s claim that the restriction was simply to prevent fraud, saying:

This video is getting multiple airs during prime time on St. Louis TV news.  KTVI-TV covers the efforts of a Missouri group to qualify a constitutional amendment for this fall’s ballot.

The 2010 statewide ballot season got underway yesterday with two tax measures in Oregon. Measure 66 and Measure 67 were on the ballot and both were approved by voters by a 53% to 46% margin. Measure 66 will impose a tax increase on couples earning $250,000 and individuals earning $125,000. Measure 67 will impose a tax increase on businesses.

I recently put up some of the pictures from our trip out to Big Spring, TX to meet with the Concerned Citizens Council earlier this month. They’re on our Flickr account, so make sure to go and check them out. Pictures from events and gatherings over the past year are available on that account as well.

California is having a bit of a budget crisis and seems to be looking just about everywhere for funds. This year one of their favorite places to look seems to be the bank accounts of local cities and towns. This has prompted a backlash in court, but also at the ballot box. Thankfully, the citizens of California have initiative & referendum rights and are able to work against the state’s intrusion. Ballot initiatives have sprung up around the state to keep local revenue safe.

Mike Parson hates voters, that is the only thing we can conclude. Why else would he try year after year to gut Missouri voters’ ballot initiative process?

Citizen Foundation President Paul Jacob’s Common Sense article today discusses the Tea Party movement and its populist tone. In the article Jacob also wonders whether or not a significant number of Americans could really take a common-sense, freedom point of view and effectively use it.

Getting an initiative on the ballot is a very difficult undertaking in most places, but the use of new technology has the potential to revolutionize the petition signature gathering process. In both California and Utah, initiative campaigns are now using the internet and smartphones to gather petition signatures from voters.

I posted about it last week, but I just wanted to mention that the new video from our trip to Texas is up on our website now as well as on our Youtube page. There will likely be another video featuring our good friends in Texas later this week. Stay tuned.

The case in Washington state over whether or not the names and information of petition signers can be released to the public will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court. The announcement came today and will finally resolve the issue after much debate over the last few months.

I just put up a new video from our quick trip down to Big Spring, TX. We met with the Concerned Citizens Council and talked with them about their situation with the Big Spring City Council.

They are a great group of citizens that are standing up for their petition rights, and not letting them be taken away by the powers that be. So make sure to check it out.