« UTOPIA Alternative | Main | Hatch on Marriage Amendment »
Ballot Initiatives
The Deseret News has an article today about the failure of the open space ballot initiative to make the fall ballot. The issue wasn’t total number of signatures, but the requirement that ballot initiatives have 10% of registered voters in 26 of the 29 State Senate districts. Backers got the required number of signatures in only 24 of the 29 districts. Regardless, of how you feel about this specific issue, it raises the question of ballot initiatives.
Its not clear that the requirements have much to do with getting good law. Rather it seems that Utah’s initiative law is intended to put up a very high hurdle for ballot initiatives, merely to discourage them. There are two camps on this. One says that legislation by initiative is a poor way to run a State. The others says that this is the best way, sometimes, to hear the voice of the people.
The problem I see with the current law is that it creates an ecology where only the best organized groups get initiatives on the ballot. That leads to a situation where only well-funded special interest groups have access to the initiative process. I believe that if we’re going to have an initiative process, we ought to make it accessible.
What do you think? Would you like it to be easier to place initiatives on the ballot or is that a bad idea?
Posted by windley on July 7, 2004 02:09 PM
