US EditionLawmakers seek to rein in citizen ballot initiatives with new requirements for petitions
- Lawmakers in about a dozen U.S. States passed roughly 40 bills in 2025 imposing new rules on citizen ballot initiatives, including Arkansas, Florida, and South Dakota.
- These laws respond to recent uses of initiatives for abortion rights and marijuana legalization and concerns about petition clarity, fraud, and outside influence.
- Key provisions require Arkansas initiative titles to be at eighth-grade reading level, South Dakota petition titles to use 14-point font, and Florida volunteers gathering over 25 signatures to register with felony penalties for noncompliance.
- Roughly 42% of 2,744 citizen initiatives in Oregon since 1904 have passed, while GOP lawmakers argue these bills protect state constitutions from manipulation; Florida’s new rules are challenged in court.
- These measures indicate a contracting initiative process in the U.S., reflecting lawmakers' desire to safeguard constitutional integrity and limit initiatives they see as threatening their authority.
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84 Articles
FL Gov Signs Law Making It Harder To Place Ballot Initiatives Before Voters
Lawmakers in other states, including Idaho and Texas, are also seeking to make it more difficult for voters to decide on marijuana-related ballot initiatives. The post Florida: Governor Signs Law Making It Harder To Place Ballot Initiatives Before Voters appeared first on NORML.
arkansasadvocate.com
Arkansas Times‘Pernicious and unnecessary’ laws make life harder for ordinary Arkansans
Arkansans protest several bills introduced by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, that would change the citizen-led ballot initiative process Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, at the Arkansas Capitol. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)Over the course of the recently concluded session of the Arkansas Legislature, the media have reported in bits and pieces on various measures passed by lawmakers that infringe on Arkansans’ rights, target marginalized groups, erode the w…
GOP-led states are passing new restrictions for voters to get issues on the ballot
Two dozen states allow citizens to propose ballot measures. But Republican lawmakers in many of those states are now adding hurdles to those efforts, saying they want to combat fraud.(Image credit: Andrew DeMillo)
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