Fixing California's initiative and referendum process.
Currently, California’s initiative and referendum process is unnecessarily complicated, inefficient, biased, confusing, and overwhelming—in short, woefully inadequate in addressing the will of the people. We propose the following improvements to simplify the process, make it fairer, and open up access.
If you don’t live in California, you can just skim over what follows or proceed to the Next Step. First wave: simplify the process, remove bias, and bring elected officials into the mix. 1. Separate “elections” of officials from “votes” on referendums and initiatives. California citizens are often asked to vote on too many things all at one time. Take a look at California’s ballot from November 2022. It almost seems as though it were designed to confuse us. Separating elections of officials from votes on policies, laws, and actions would allow voters to vote more thoughtfully. 2. Limit the total number of initiatives and referendums being put up for a vote at any one time. At times California overwhelms voters with too many initiatives and referendums. For example, in 2020 there were 13 measures to be voted upon. Voters can suffer voter fatigue, which can affect the decision making. We propose limiting the number of measures that can be voted on at any one time to four. 3. Assign an independent commission the responsibility for writing the titles and summary descriptions for all initiatives and referendums. Currently the descriptions are written by an elected official from a given political party. This can create a bias and affect votes. This must be changed to remove even the slightest of doubt about the fairness of the voting. 4. Involve our elected officials in the initiative process. Right now, elected officials don’t have a meaningful role in the initiative process. This is a big mistake. We need elected officials to participate and also to be held accountable regarding their position on initiatives. We propose the following changes:
Second wave: continue to simplify the process and make the system fairer by reducing signature requirements. 1. Reduce signature requirements and continue to simplify them. Currently the required number of signatures to place referendums and initiatives on a ballot is too high, and the time allowed to gather signatures is too short. We propose easing the signature requirements as follows to make the process more accessible to all citizens, and thus fairer and more trustworthy:
2. When votes take place, send only pertinent materials regarding the vote, and do so in one mailer. Currently California voters receive their voting materials in three separate mailers: the Voter’s Guide sent out by the state, a second Voter’s Guide sent out by the county, and finally the ballot itself. The splitting up of mailings can result in loss of materials and as a result invites breakdowns in voting. Moreover, the State Voter’s guide, at over 100 pages, contains too much information and overwhelms even the most dedicated voter. The voter’s package needs to streamlined and simplified and arrive in one mailing. 3. Initiate a research effort to consider changing the requirements for passing an initiative to a “double majority” format. Currently, an initiative passes if it receives a simple majority of 50% plus one. Instead, we propose requiring both this simple majority and a majority of counties voting for the initiative. With a total of 58 counties in California, passage of an initiative would require 30 counties to vote in favor. (The popular vote in each county would determine that county’s vote.) This requirement provides for both depth and breadth of support for voter initiatives to be put into law. Now that you know what we think needs to happen, what’s next? Click here to find out. Vertical Divider
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