Ballot Measure Round-Up: 2012 is Getting Interesting

Welcome to HDO's Ballot Measure Round-Up! In this series, we explore the initiative process and the prospective measures that may be put to vote in the 2012 election.

Since 1902, Oregon voters have had the power to enact new laws, change existing laws, or amend the Oregon Constitution through initiatives and referendums. Any citizen, acting individually or on behalf of an organization, may sponsor initiatives.

It is going to be an interesting year, to say the least! Oregonians have diverse interests, concerns, and issues, and as a result, prospective ballot measures cover quite an array of topics. As far as we can tell, 2012 might have in store for us a vote regarding hens, healthcare, redistricting, taxes, abortion, judges, fishing, use of force, and snow tires.

...Did we mention cougars?

Is it difficult to get a measure on the ballot?

Considering the variety of topics being considered for the ballot, it’s natural that one may wonder what this process looks like.

When you sponsor an initiative, you must first receive written approval from the Secretary of State to circulate petitions to collect signatures from registered voters. Then you go on to obtain the necessary number of signatures and submit them to the Secretary of State.

The number of signatures required to qualify an initiative for the ballot is based on the number of votes cast during the most recent gubernational election - 6% for statutory amendments and 8% for constitutional amendments. To qualify for the 2012 ballot, petitioners will need 87,213 signatures for statutory amendments, and 116,284 signatures for constitutional amendments.

Did you know...

Paid signature-gatherers. So far, all but one of the proposed initiatives for 2012 will have paid signature gatherers. The 2011 Legislature had considered a few bills that would regulate this compensation. More recently, signature-gathering firms have popped up to facilitate the piece of the process.

Who’s behind the measures? Many of the measures filed with the Secretary of State's office have common chief petitioners initiating them. For example, one chief petitioner's name is on a third of the initiatives proposed so far.

Making the cut. Not all initiatives receive approval by the Secretary of State to be circulated among the public for signatures. In fact, a large number are rejected each cycle. So far, Initiative 2 is the only one to have not made the cut for 2012, based on advice from the state Attorney General. Initiatives 13 and 23 were withdrawn.

What's in a name? The way a measure is framed matters a lot, apparently. Chief petitioners of an initiative will propose a ballot title, but the Secretary of State's office may alter the wording before it becomes official. At that time, the chief petitioners can appeal the title name. Currently, half of the measures proposed appealed to the Supreme Court for a final decision on the wording. 

What's coming for 2012?

As of today, there have been 24 citizen initiatives proposed for the 2012 election. Seven have been approved for signature gathering:

1.    Initiative 3, a statutory amendment that prevents people or entitities from using public resources to collect money that will then be used for political purposes.
2.    Initiative 5, a constitutional amendment that would prohibit taxes, fees, and other assessments on real estate transfers.
3.    Initiative 8, a statutory amendment that creates a commission authorized to develop, generate, sell, buy, and distribute electricity and renewable energy, issue bonds.
4.    Initiative 9, a statutory amendment that permits personal marijuana and hemp cultivation and use without a license, and provides a commission to regulate commercial marijuana cultivation and sales.
5.    Initiative 10, a constitutional amendment that transfers legislative redistricting process to commission of retired judges in 2013; repeals 2011 reapportionment plan.
6.    Initiative 11, a constitutional amendment mandating that, for certain initiatives, ballot must contain the measure's full-text, and the text must appear before explanatory information.
7.    Initiative 12, a constitutional amendment prohibiting laws that exclude qualified voters' signatures on initiative/referendum petitions, and allows lawsuits compelling signature counting.

In addition, the 2011 Legislature referred two intitiatives to the public for a vote:

1.    Initiative 401, dealing with House Joint Resolutuon 7, creating Article X-A of the Oregon Consitution.
2.    Initiative 402, dealing with House Joint Resolution 44, amending section 1, Article III, section 17, Article IV, and section 2, Article VI of the Oregon Constitution.

This will be an exciting year as the 2012 election draws near. We'll be keeping a close eye on the initiatives, and updating the blog monthly as we look forward to the prospect of more Citizens' Initiative Reviews! State tuned for the latest news...

Additional Resources

Click here for more information on the initiative process.
Click here for more information, including the full text, of the initiative proposals (then click the "summary results" button).