Monthly Archive for Initiative and Referendum
Initiative and Referendum Stories Posted in June 2008
Pair Propose ‘Juries’ to Aid Voters
Category: Bill Sizemore · State: Oregon · Source: Eugene Register-Guard
The jury — 12 ordinary citizens gathered to weigh the facts and determine a defendant’s guilt or innocence — has served Oregon’s legal system since statehood. Now, a political reform group wants juries to help Oregon voters judge ballot initiatives. A pair who met in graduate school at the University of Oregon, Tyrone Reitman and Elliot Shuford, have formed Healthy Democracy Oregon, which plans to recruit citizens of various ages, party affiliations, education levels and geographic regions to serve on a 24-member citizens’ jury this fall. According to their plan, the jurors will spend several days at Salem’s Chemeketa Community College studying and discussing a yet-to-be-selected initiative and issue their independent assessment and recommendation to voters.
Organizers Don't Expect Success For 3 Petition Drives
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Nebraska · Source: KCSR Radio
Organizers of three petition efforts say they likely won't gather enough signatures to get their issues on the November ballot. Citizens for a Free Nebraska - which included some former Elkhorn residents - was gathering signatures for two initiatives.One would prevent annexation of a city without a vote of the residents. The other would let cities swallowed up regain their freedom by a vote of residents.
Lawmaker Seeks Opinion on Petitions, Trespassing
Category: Petition Circulating · State: Nebraska · Source: Omaha World-Herald
Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood said Wednesday that he has asked for an attorney general's opinion on whether business owners can keep petition circulators and opponents off their property. Flood said he made the request because different cities are taking different positions on the question. Lincoln officials recently announced they would enforce trespassing laws against petition circulators and opponents who refuse to leave private property after being asked to do so. Omaha officials have followed that policy for some time. Flood said Norfolk has taken the position that it would not force circulators and opponents to leave.
Yet Another Unnecessary State Law
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: East Valley Tribune
A new law that at first blush appears to be upholding a societal good — telling the truth — but is actually the sledge hammer of the state coming down to swat a fly, became effective in Arizona last week. Most of House Bill 2288, which Gov. Janet Napolitano signed into law on Tuesday, reads as necessary housekeeping to the processes of initiative and referendum petitioning. One sentence, however, is troubling: “A person who is a circulator of an initiative or referendum petition and who induces any other person in the circulator’s presence to sign the … petition by knowingly falsely describing the general subject matter of the measure is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.”
Ritter Vetoes Bill Regulating Paid Petition Circulators
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday issued his second veto of the year, striking down a bill that would have required paid signature-gatherers for candidates or ballot initiatives to be Colorado residents, free of certain felony records. The bill, House Bill 1406, also would have required the signature- gatherers to receive education on the measures for which they were collecting signatures. Sponsors said they hoped the bill would bring more credibility to the large petition drives that hunt for tens of thousands of signatures each election cycle to place a measure on the ballot. The requirements didn't apply to volunteer signature-gatherers, though, and Ritter cited that disparity as one of the reasons for his veto. He also referred to several court challenges Colorado has lost over the years on bills or constitutional amendments with similar requirements.
Other Monthly Archives for Initiative and Referendum
- June 2008 (5)