In most states, Secretaries of State and Attorneys General are responsible for the oversight of the ballot measure process and are often able to make significant administrative changes to strengthen a state’s protection against initiative fraud (i.e., shifting additional existing staff to oversight roles, etc.).

However, it is primarily state legislatures that have the power to change the laws that are the most important to protecting the integrity of the ballot measure system.

At a time when more than 40 states are experiencing significant budget shortfalls, it’s important to note that most of the common sense reforms being proposed to strengthen ballot integrity would simply require legislative action, not additional spending by the states. Many of the changes, in fact, specifically empower the public to act as an additional watchdog against fraud, supporting election officials’ efforts to make the process work for the citizens of their state.

BISC has broadly categorized the most urgent aspects of a sound ballot measure system into four categories: Higher Standards, Greater Transparency, Accountability, and Oversight and Enforcement.

Higher Standards — Many states have a very low standard for filing ballot titles and language. In some states, initiative sponsors submit multiple versions of an initiative with only slight word changes, “shopping” for favorable ballot titles and summaries while wasting taxpayer money.

States should discourage frivolous filings by requiring a bare minimum number of 1,000 signatures be submitted to election authorities before any taxpayer money is spent developing titles and summaries.

In other states, initiative proponents pick the ballot title and language without any opportunity for either to be challenged by the public or elected officials, often leading to intentionally misleading titles and language.

Every state needs a process ensuring that clear and accurate ballot titles and language are presented to voters when they are being asked to amend their state constitution and statutes.

Voters deserve higher standards for the important questions they must answer on Election Day. Ballot titles and language should inform voters, not mislead or deceive them, and campaigns should not be allowed to waste taxpayer money in an effort to “shop” for more favorable language.

Greater Transparency — When voters are asked to change their laws, they are entitled to know who is asking.

Unfortunately, the ballot initiative process offers little or no transparency for those who work to pass ballot initiatives. Increasingly, ballot initiative campaign committees are hiring out-of-state signature gathering vendors who then contract with petition circulators, who are typically also from out-of-state, to collect signatures to place an initiative on the ballot.

Voters have a right to know who is circulating petitions in their state. In order to provide greater accountability and stronger oversight of this process, states should implement some simple reforms.

• Just as ballot initiative campaign committees are required to register with the state, the paid signature gathering vendors paid by the committee and the campaign signature gatherers themselves should be required to register with the Secretary of State to ensure that the public is aware of every person asking for a change in state laws.
  
  There is also a public interest in a state giving its citizens confidence that no one with convictions for fraud or identity theft is collecting signatures and vital personal information.
  
  Accountability — The ability to identify and evaluate each signature gatherer’s body of work is the cornerstone of any effort to guarantee that an initiative that has qualified for the ballot did not use deception and fraud to do so.
  
  
• In some states, it is legal (or not expressly illegal) for signature gatherers to fill in information for voters, including the name, address, signature, and county fields. This diminishes the ability of election authorities to identify fraud, and should be expressly banned.
  
  It should be clearly stated in state statutes that a petitioner should have no reason to write in the voter’s portion of a petition. If a petitioner is found to have filled out any portion of a petition on the voter’s behalf, they should be prosecuted for forgery and the full body of work thrown out.
• Each petition sheet submitted to the state should include an affidavit, signed by the petition circulator, attesting that they personally collected the signature and witnessed each signature being signed. Petition affidavits should also be notarized so there is at least minimum accountability for the signatures that campaign petition circulators turn into the state.
  
  
• Since most states do not devote the time and resources necessary to fully review every signature qualifying a ballot initiative, the public should have timely access to all petition sheets after they have been submitted for verification instead of solely relying on a sample.
  
  The Secretary of State should also have a responsibility to release copies of signature petitions to the public in a timely manner to allow citizen groups to examine signatures submitted and monitor for fraud to ensure that an initiative with fraudulently gathered signatures does not qualify for the ballot. The minimum amount of time the public should have access to the petitions prior to the deadline for filing a challenge against any fraudulent signatures is 30 days.

By requiring more accountability for signature gathering vendors and the circulators they hire, the public will be better able to support election officials in their efforts to protect the integrity of the initiative process and voters will be more confident that initiatives qualified in a way consistent with state law.

Oversight and Enforcement— Often, the biggest problem with the ballot initiative process is that no single person has the authority to take action against abuse, deception, and fraud. Secretaries of State, with limited staff and resources, simply don’t have the ability to provide oversight and enforcement of the system, while state legislatures have provided little support in the way of laws that allow for judicial oversight and enforcement to police fraudulent activity.

• States need to provide the authority to exclude signatures and pursue legal action against campaign committees who should ultimately be responsible for the paid signature gathering vendors and campaign circulators they employ when fraud or forgery is proven.
  
  
• States need to provide their Secretaries of State with the resources necessary to police the process and the authority to refer violations to the Attorneys General for prosecution.
  
  
• Courts need to act on allegations of fraud within a reasonable and expedited time frame to prevent any question that a ballot initiative qualified for the ballot using fraud or deception.

Contents 2 About Ballot Initiative Strategy Center 3 Introduction 3 Background 4 What Is Ballot Measure Fraud? 4 10 Things You Should Know About Initiative Campaign Circulators 5 Common Sense State Reforms 7 Key Findings 7 Report Methodology State by State Report Card 11 12 Alaska 13 Arizona 15 Arkansas 16 California 18 Colorado 20 Florida 21 Idaho 23 Illinois 24 Maine 26 Massachusetts 28 Michigan 29 Mississippi 31 Missouri 32 Montana 34 Nebraska 36 Nevada 37 North Dakota 39 Ohio 41 Oklahoma 42 Oregon 44 South Dakota 46 Utah 47 Washington 49 Wyoming