California: Low voter turnout eases ballot-measure requirement
Got a ballot measure for 2016? You’re in luck.
Ballot initiatives two years from now will need about 30 percent fewer qualifying signatures than they did this year, according to the political-consulting types at Sacramento’s Redwood Pacific Public Affairs.
The reason: abysmal turnout for the Nov. 4 election. California requires valid signatures equal to 8 percent of the most recent gubernatorial vote to qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot, 5 percent for regular laws and veto referenda.
This year voter-approved Proposition 2, the rainy-day fund constitutional amendment, needed 807,615 valid signatures to reach the ballot. Two years from now, just 560,000 signatures will do the trick, Redwood Pacific figures. (To be safe, petitioners try to collect more signatures than required.)
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