Sunday, February 21, 2010
Initiative process needs changes to protect integrity
HeraldNet: If you have lived in the state of Washington for even a few years, you have probably been approached to sign a petition to put an initiative on the ballot. Many of us believe allowing citizens to directly propose new laws and vote on them strengthens our democracy, but day to day, we do not think about technical details of how initiatives make it to the ballot.
The signature gathering process has changed dramatically over the years. It is now a multi-million-dollar business with the potential to undermine the integrity of our democracy. In the past decade, paid signature gathering firms have emerged as the primary method to gather the signatures needed to qualify a measure for the ballot. In Washington alone, nearly $7.2 million has been paid to firms since 2002.
According to the national, nonpartisan Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, fraud and forgery from paid signature gatherers is on the rise. The sad news is Washington is not prepared to confront these abuses. When the initiative process was adopted in Washington in 1912, it was a tool for democracy. Times have changed, but our laws have not kept up. In fact, the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center rated the integrity of Washington’s system as failing, noting the lack of standards, transparency, accountability, oversight and enforcement in the signature gathering process.
Professional signature gatherers often travel from state to state and are paid by the signature, which can create incentive for abuse of the system. And since gatherers are on the move and have no ties to the state they are working in, it should come as no surprise that cases of forgery, fraud and deception are documented in many states — like Washington — that have lax accountability standards.
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