Pressure for ballot reform growing in Michigan - Plans would ban paid petition circulators, boost tr

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit News

November 12, 2012 at 1:00 am
Pressure for ballot reform growing in Michigan
Plans would ban paid petition circulators, boost transparency
By Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau


Lansing — It's been a rollercoaster year for the citizens' initiative ballot process — and now lawmakers are facing pressure to change Michigan's form of direct democracy.

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on placing a repeal of the emergency manager law on the ballot over a petition font size dispute, plunging a public meeting into chaos and resulting in one board member being spit on by angry protesters.

Michigan's top courts got quite a workout, green-lighting the emergency manager referendum and three of the five constitutional amendments for the ballot and halting a casino expansion initiative from going before voters.

-snip-

Changes under consideration include banning paid petition circulators to requiring more disclosure of who is financing ballot campaigns and increasing the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot.


Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121112/POLITICS02/211120339#ixzz2C25OV8FN

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. They want to kill the initiative process in Michigan.

It already takes something like 343,000 signatures for an initiative to make the ballot.

You NEED paid signature gatherers to get on the ballot there.

Banning paid signature gatherers while increasing the number of signatures needed is a recipe for destroying the initiative process.

[Festivito]

2. That would be their intention.

They make things harder to do partly because paid people get out there, then they keep all the harder rules and just knock out the paid part.

[SemperEadem]

3. job killers!!!!!

obstructionists!!