Voters seek better information on ballot propositions

LOS ANGELES—A new survey released last week showed voters are concerned about the influence of special interest money on ballot initiative campaigns and the use of the initiative system to attack people’s civil rights.

Voters said they want greater transparency regarding funders behind ballot measure campaigns, greater review and oversight of initiatives, and more information to help make decisions when voting, according to Greenlining Institute, a non-profit public policy organization and the authors of the survey.

“85 percent of registered voters in California think that it is important to know who is funding initiative campaigns (both for and against measures) when they make their decision,” said Michelle Romero, program manager for Greenlining’s Our Democracy program and one of the authors of the survey at a press conference in Downtown LA on February 3.

Romero said these special interests groups like oil and chemical companies fund initiatives and hide behind “a warm and fuzzy name that sounds great but tells voters nothing, like Californians for Responsible Government, or Californians for Apple Pie and Cute Puppies. If Californians for Apple Pie and Cute Puppies is actually a front for oil and chemical companies or some other special interest, voters want to know,” said Romero.

The ballot initiative system has come under fire as of late. Ballot initiatives are often referred to as the people’s way to create a new law or challenge the state’s constitution by paying a $200 filing fee and gathering a certain number of signatures (about 500,000 Ð 800,000) within 150 days. But lately, it’s mostly a tool for rich, well-funded corporation to create laws that would benefit them or attack minorities. The survey revealed that 73 percent of voters believed that the rights of certain groups are often attacked via ballot initiatives, and 41 percent felt their own rights had been attacked. For example, the English-only initiative proposition 8.

And according to the survey, most minorities don’t even know what a ballot initiative is or the process of creating a law.

“If you have $2 million dollars, your law will make it into the ballot,” said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, adding that the $2 – $3 million is due to the high number of signatures required in a short amount of time. But a really well funded ballot initiative campaign could cost as much as $10 million, he said.

“Ballot initiatives and referenda have a tremendous impact on the lives of Californians and can be a wonderful tool for democratic action,” said Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) in a separate statement.

“However, the process has frequently been hijacked by corporate interests intent on misleading voters to benefit their own narrow interests. The Greenlining Institute has written, ‘Corporations and other special interests now dominate what was supposed to be a vehicle for people’s democracy.’ I share their concern and look forward to working with Greenlining on ways to improve the system,” added the statement.

Greenlining is suggesting ways to improve the process.

Among the several suggestions offered by Greenlining is to reduce the negative influence of big money, develop a responsible system that includes a form of oversight of the initiative process, increase civic participation and create a more open and transparent initiative process.