Citizens in Charge

A copy of the proposed initiative petition shall be filed
with the signatures of 20 qualified electors of the state in the Secretary of
State’s office. The Secretary of State shall immediately transmit a copy of
the proposed petition to the Attorney General for a Certificate of Review.
The Attorney General may confer with the petitioner and shall, within 20
working days after receipt, review the proposed petition for substantive
improvements and shall recommend to the petitioner such revision or

Date Initiative language can be submitted: No deadline

Signatures are tied to vote of which office: Number of registered voters at
the last general election.

Next general election: 2010

Registered voters at last general election: 745,627

Net number of signatures required: 6% of registered voters at the last
general election (51,712)

Distribution Requirement: No

Circulation period: 18 Months

You have a statutory Initiative & Referendum process. Citizens can pass laws they write or suspend a statute passed by the Legislature by collecting enough petition signatures to place the statute on the statewide ballot for a decision by the voters. Unfortunately, voters do not yet enjoy any process for passing a constitutional amendment by Initiative.

Poll:

See the results of a poll on support for statewide initiative & referendum here.

In 1911, swept up in the reformist spirit of the times, the Idaho
legislature approved an I&R amendment to the state constitution, which
was approved by voters the following year. But the amendment was
flawed: it did not specify the number of petition signatures required to
qualify an initiative for the ballot. This meant that the legislature could set
the threshold - and change it at any time. No initiative could qualify for
the ballot until the legislature passed a bill to set the signature

A group opposed to Nebraska’s affirmative action law says it won’t appeal a judge’s rejection of their lawsuit challenging the validity of petition signatures

David Kramer, spokesman for Nebraskans United, says the judge’s ruling still leaves questions about whether a petition circulator has to read the entire object statement to each signer.

The leader of the Anti Wolf Coalition in Idaho says he will try again to put a wolf removal initiative on the ballot now that a federal judge has restored endangered species protection for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. “We are very pleased this liberal judge did what he did,” Ron Gillett told the Lewiston Tribune. “Now it will be all-out war.” He said restoring federal protection to the wolves will reinvigorate his attempts to put a ballot initiative before Idaho voters.

When Oregon voters approved Measure 37 three years ago, they sparked similar movements in other states.