State Ballot Measures in 2016 Reflect Shift to Left
A funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box this year. Though grassroots referendums and initiatives have been on the wane for two decades, 73 have been approved for ballots so far in the 26 states that allow them. That’s still well below the 1996 peak of 92 measures, but it's the highest number since 2006 and almost 50 percent more than in 2012.
Why the spike? A big reason, says Josh Altic of the politics website Ballotpedia, is that the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot in many states is based on voter turnout in the previous statewide election. And turnout in 2014 was the lowest since World War II.
In California, for example, activists needed the signatures of just under 366,000 registered voters, 27 percent fewer than in 2014, to propose changes to state law. California, the hothouse of citizen action, will have 17 ballot initiatives this year, versus 4 in 2014 and 13 in 2012. That doesn't sit well with my View colleague Jonathan Bernstein, who believes elected representatives, not the moneyed interests behind many ballot measures, should make laws.
Here's what I find interesting: When voters get thoroughly fed up with government and stay home on Election Day, they're making it easier for activists to gain access to the ballot in the next election. Since initiatives and referendums generally result in higher voter turnout -- boosting it by 3 percent to 4.5 percent in presidential-election years, and as much as 9 percent in midterm contests, according to one study -- activists may find it harder to repeat this year's success in the next cycle.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-05/state-ballot-measures-in-2016-reflect-shift-to-left
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