Ballot Measures Empower Citizens

Ballot measures are vital to our Democracy and provide citizens with ways to participate and vote on policy issues at the local and state levels of government. Citizens in 26 states can use the initiative process to gather signatures and bring an issue to a public vote. Why only 26 states? The answer is because the other states have severely limited citizens rights. According to http://www.citizensincharge.org there are three main benefits of citizen initiatives. They are: better policy, holding legislatures accountable, and higher voter turnout. Initiative and referendum have been a part of our country's history since it was founded, but, those rights are being attacked and limited more and more each year.

In the spring of 2010, Citizens In Charge Foundation sponsored a poll of citizens in all 50 states and the majority responded in favor of citizens having the right to put measures on the ballots. The results were clear across the country. In every single state, Americans supported the initiative and referendum process by better than two-to-one margins.
In 48 of the 50 states, the margin of support was greater than three-to-one; in 40 of 50
states, citizens supported the initiative process by a four-to-one or greater margins. http://www.citizensinchargefoundation.org/files/Full%20Poll%20-%20Americans%20Want%20a%20Direct%20Say%20in%20Government.pdf

The http://www.citizensincharge.org/ website is a treasure trove of vital information for citizens who are interested in learning more about ballot measures and helping to preserve this essential part of our democracy. For a great, short video about a progressive organization dedicated to preserving the ballot initiative measure see this: http://ballot.org/ Please take a few minutes of your time and get involved today.

Ballot.org has the latest news on which measures are qualifying and carries the latest headlines on election issues. Stay informed and be involved. Our future depends on inform and involved citizens.