Ballot Initiatives

You're probably familiar with the concept of a ballot initiative, even if you don't realize it.

It's when a voter (or a group of voters) take their beef straight to the people. Like with the recent pay day lending issue...the pay day lenders decided they didn't want the legislature having the final say, and petitioned to put it on the ballot.

Why do these matter to you?

A) Because it's one of the few cases where you get to have a direct voice in the government.
B) These are laws that directly effect you.

There are a lot of people who will be upset when they can't just go take out a check express loan whenever they feel like it, and unfortunately I don't think many of those people voted on the issue. They lost their voice on their cash advance loans because they didn't vote.

It's also nice to think that my opinion counts, and I'm not relying on the judgement of some person who is going to vote the party line. (The judgement of the electorate is another question altogether).

So how do you get an initiative on the ballot?

Regulations differ from state to state as to how to get an initiative on the ballot. In fact, one of the ballot initiatives on my ballot this year was about new regulations for ballot initiatives (irony!).

Typically, you need to get enough signatures (number varies) on a petition to prove there's a need for this issue. Then you have to have them in by a certain date, to allow for verification of said signatures. Because not just any clown can be a signer...they have to be registered voters, and at least in Ohio, registered in the county your peitition is designated for.

That's why those people have like 90 clipboards, a petition for each county, just in case. Oh, and there's steps about the petition itself, to make sure it isn't TOO misleading...just go to the Secretary of State's webpage about ballot access to get the full story.

Anyhow, here's where the interactive part comes in. I'd like to hear from you about your favorite ballot initiative this year. Whether it's one you actually liked, or hated. Whether it was your own state, somewhere in the nation, or a city ordinance. I don't care, I just want to hear about a ballot initiative that struck your fancy.

E-mail me or comment on this post...I'll run a recap post with all your thoughts next week (appropriateness pending, of course).

Hope to hear from you!