Newswire
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has rejected a petition for the proposed “Ohio Voters Bill of Rights” because the summary of the petition was not “a fair and truthful statement of the measure to be referred.”
On February 4, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office received a written petition from a group called Ohioans for a Voters Bill of Rights to amend the Ohio Constitution via the “Ohio Voters Bill of Rights.” Attorney General DeWine’s letter rejected the summary because it contained at least two misrepresentations regarding issues where the Ohio Constitution is pre-empted by federal law.
More than 50 opponents of a proposed pension reform measure that would affect employees of Ventura County showed up at Home Depots in Simi Valley, Newbury Park and Camarillo over the weekend to dissuade individuals from signing a petition supporting the reform.
The demonstrators held signs and spoke out loudly against the measure, calling it, among other things, misleading and draconian.
Among the protestors was Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean.
In 270 days – come Election Day 2014 – it’s not just candidates you’ll be voting for, there are likely to be plenty of ballot questions, too. And, much like 2012, when there were half a dozen ballot questions, we might just see a repeat of Ballot-o-palooza.
Ballot questions can sometimes get people who might not be super-invested in voting for a candidate to actually get out and vote for a particular issue. For example, 2004, when a slew of anti-gay marriage ballot proposals may very well have helped George W. Bush win reelection.
Read More: here
Enough petition signatures have been verified to place an initiative seeking to legalize marijuana on the ballot this summer in Alaska, election officials said Tuesday.
The petition has met all the thresholds necessary to appear on the Aug. 19 primary ballot, the Alaska Division of Elections said.
The lieutenant governor’s office said it had verified the signatures from registered voters as of Monday evening. The total of 31,500 was a thousand more than needed, with about 6,000 signatures remaining to be checked.
Read More: here
A bill making its way through the Washington Legislature would change the state law that landed a local light rail petition in court last year.
House Bill 2296, introduced by state Rep. Liz Pike, would allow duplicate signatures on a petition to be counted once, rather than thrown out entirely. The Camas Republican said last year’s ill-fated light rail petition in Vancouver largely inspired her bill, but it’s found support from elsewhere in the legislature.
The bill sailed through a House committee last week. It’s co-sponsored by four Democrats and five Republicans, among them Rep. Paul Harris and Brandon Vick, both of Vancouver.
“I think the merit goes beyond (Vancouver), as well,” Pike said.
Changing to a part-time Legislature in Michigan could appear on the November ballot if a group supporting the issue is able to gather about 400,000 signatures by July 7.
The Committee to Restore a Part-Time Legislature submitted petition language to the state Board of Canvassers last week to transform the Legislature from full-time to part-time status. The board will take up the petition Thursday
Under the proposal, the Legislature would meet for 60 days and the pay for lawmakers would be reduced from $71,685 to $35,000 a year.
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With a controversial elections law headed for a possible repeal, focus at the state Capitol is shifting to what, if anything, will replace it.
Opponents of House Bill 2196, which passed a key committee Thursday on a 4-2 party-line vote, say lawmakers should not tinker with further election-law changes if the Legislature repeals the elections bill it passed last June.
But some Republicans have indicated parts of the elections law should be enacted on a piecemeal basis this year, arguing changes are needed to tighten elections procedures.
Read More (With video): here
When former Mayor Ron Littlefield sought a property tax increase in the summer of 2010, it triggered an alliance between Chattanooga conservatives and liberals that nearly cost him his job and cast “a pall over the day-to-day operations of the city.”
Littlefield recently pointed to a video, Recall Fever, produced by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, on the rise of recalls across the country. In it, he said he had never experienced a campaign that bypasses traditional outlets to get a political message out. And he affirmed his belief that the ballot box is the best place for voters to express their disapproval.
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he Nevada Supreme Court on Monday ruled that six citizens who filed three ballot initiative petitions in 2010 cannot be sued by Boulder City, which challenged the validity of the issues.
The court ruled that the citizens are protected by law and sent the case back to District Court to determine how much Boulder City must pay for legal costs incurred by the petitioners.
They had gathered signatures to place on the 2010 ballot initiative petitions to require the City Council to get voter approval before going into debt of $1 million or more; limit the terms of members of city commissions and committees to 12 years; and limit the city to one municipal golf course.
In an expected move, one of the groups supporting an arena ballot measure says it’s planning to sue the city of Sacramento after the city clerk rejected a ballot measure for inconsistencies, according to KCRA-TV Channel 3.
The organizers of Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork are waiting to look at material from the city clerk before launching a legal challenge, according to KCRA.
On Friday, the clerk rejected the ballot measure for things such as inconsistent dates, missing language in some versions of petitions, some lacking required wording and not including the names and signatures of proponents.
Read More: here