The Drumbeat of Direct Democracy
Chris Pipho · Phi Delta Kappan · 1994
FUNDING FOR education, like all government spending, is coming under increasing scrutiny by the taxpayers. Some form of signature-initiated constitutional amendment dealing with voter approval of all taxes was alive in 12 states this past summer. The principle of direct democracy via the ballot initiative process is easy enough to understand, but its technical workings and its long-term impact are not easily grasped. First, not every citizen in every state can participate; only 24 states allow citizen initiatives. According to the Council of State Governments, the states that allow citizen initiatives are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The process of obtaining signatures on petition for constitutional amendment or new law differs in each of these states. The number of signatures needed to get on the ballot is sometimes set as percentage of registered voters, sometimes as percentage of the number of people voting in the last election, sometimes as percentage of the census count, and so on. The wording of an initiative -- especially the short summary that appears on the ballot or on the signature-gathering sheets -- is subject to various controls. The process of validating signatures to ensure that those who sign are bonafide residents of the jurisdiction in question brings in wide variety of officials, such as county clerks, election officials, and even the secretary of state. Deadlines for obtaining signatures are set, and names can be disallowed, which in turn can trigger formal hearings and even litigation. In some states the whole process has turned into an election year carnival that runs on media hype, county fair booths, shopping mall brigades, and blatant hucksterism. The easily understood part of the process happens on the street or in the local shopping mall when someone with clip-board approaches as if to sell Girl Scout cookies and in minute or less has to convince the buttonholee, in easy-to-under-stand language, that his or her interests would be served by signing the petition. It is not necessary that the signer read or understand the paragraph at the top of the signing sheet. Stop New Taxes, Stop Runaway Government, or some other banner headline can win over people who are fed up with government or who hate taxes. In states where paid signature gatherers can be used, the process could easily degenerate into glib hype, and it can even encourage forgery. Court decisions in the 1980s make it more difficult for states to prohibit people from collecting petitions for pay. In Nebraska this past spring, the state supreme court raised the base for calculating the number of signatures needed to get an issue on the ballot. Some observers think that this makes it nearly impossible for anyone to proceed without paid petition circulators. A term-limitation campaign in Nebraska recently hired Nevada group to help collect 92,000 signatures. In order to meet the minimum number, 130,000 signatures were gathered, presumably on the assumption that certain percentage would be invalidated. The issue did not make it onto the ballot, but, if the payment for signatures was, as the Omaha World-Herald commented, established at a dollar apiece, more or less, direct democracy may be for sale. Finding the money then becomes the only issue. Ballot Issues for 1994 Missouri. Named after Republican Congressman Melton Hancock, Hancock II would amend the state constitution to require voter approval of all major tax increases. Advocates using paid petition circulators collected more than 200,000 signatures. To get on the ballot they needed to collect 147,856 (and certain minimum numbers in eight out of the nine congressional districts). By late August county officials were verifying names, and some close observers thought that the issue would fail to qualify in enough congressional districts. …