Daily Archive
Stories Posted on August 6, 2008
Our View: Ballot initiatives could give voters greater voice
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Connecticut · Source: Norwich Bulletin
Should Connecticut citizens have the right to petition issues onto a ballot for a statewide vote? That’s the question that will be asked if voters approve a referendum question in November calling for a constitutional convention. Thirty-one states now allow ballot initiatives, whereby citizens can bypass the legislative process and petition to have referendum questions on issues put directly to voters for approval or rejection. There are several groups in the state that support amending the state constitution to allow ballot initiatives — and hope a constitutional convention will serve as the vehicle for that.
Petition for state education funding filed
Category: Education · State: Oklahoma · Source: Tulsa World
Leading public education support groups including the Oklahoma Education Association filed a petition Wednesday with the state to put to a vote of the people a requirement that Oklahoma's students are funded at the average of the seven-state regional level. Chuck Pack, a teacher at Tahlequah High School, said he is spending about $600 a school year so that his math students have adequate supplies.
Union fights for binding arbitration initiative on ballot
Category: Unions · State: Maryland · Source: Towson Times
A union that represents county employees, including 911 operators, public health nurses and sheriff’s deputies, wants county voters to have a chance to approve a provision giving them binding arbitration in negotiations with the county. But county officials and the union that represents teachers are questioning tactics being used by an out-of-state firm hired to obtain signatures for the ballot question. “I don’t care about people getting signatures, I just don’t want people doing it in our name,” said Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County. The union represents 6,000 teachers and other school employees in the county.
Lakewood minicasino ban appears headed to ballot
Category: Gaming · State: Washington · Source: Tacoma News-Tribune
The group trying to rid Lakewood of minicasinos appears to have collected enough signatures to put its initiative on the ballot. City voters would make the final decision as part of the busy general election in November. City Manager Andrew Neiditz told the Lakewood City Council Monday night that he spoke with Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy’s office earlier in the day. The county said that after an initial count of all signatures gathered in the city’s first-ever citizen initiative campaign, 3,904 are valid. The Save Lakewood group needs at least 3,707 valid signatures to force city leaders to ban minicasinos or put it to a public vote. The county will check all 6,138 signatures again for their validity, but the Auditor’s Office doesn’t expect the number that are valid to go down, Neiditz said.