Ballot O’ Pedia
A friend sent this note and resource to me just before the 2008 Presidential election:
“If your brain operates anything like mine, many times you may have gotten into the voting booth and honestly had no idea which way to vote on obscurely written propositions. Many times they’re cleverly worded (in my opinion) to elicit the opposite vote which the individual intended. To clarify what ballot questions are all about go to Ballot O’ Pedia’s site. The following link is from Ballot O’ Pedia which can explain which way I want to vote in the future on ballot propositions. I thought it may be helpful to you as well…”
How do you get a proposition on the ballot nationally?
There is no way to have a ballot proposition for the entire United States. Some states, such as California, permit “initiative and referendum” which allow citizens to write their own ballot propositions, but not all states do.
The government of the Unites States is a “representative republic”, not a democracy. Citizens do not vote directly on the issues; citizens elect representatives to act in our names. The Federal government has no provision to allow citizens to vote directly on government policies.
Bummer. I wonder of there is a way to change this so that all states have a system in which residents/voters can suggest questions for voting ballots. I wonder of a suggestion box type system could be set up online.
HOWEVER. I did some more digging and this is how a question gets on the ballot in California. The below answer came from Yahoo Answers, so it may not be entirely correct. Still. It makes one think about how flawed the process is in California. Perhaps we can all learn from it and if we want to do something similar in our states, we know what mistakes to avoid.
“Well, first a federal judge has to approve it. Then they have to put together a commitee to study it. After that, they have to take a coffee break (union rules don’t ya know). Then, they submit their findings to the Governor, who takes the committee out to lunch (again, union rules). Then the fine people of the great state of California get to vote on whatever issue it may be. But, then comes the most important part of it all – no matter what the results are, the same federal judge gets to throw them ALL out if he/she doesn’t like them. Long live Prop 187….look it up.”
So that’s California. I then Googled a more general question: “How can you get a question on the ballot”, and found a response on Yahoo answers (see below). Who knows if it’s correct but at least it is a place to start and it’s more that I knew before.
It depends on what state you live in, since states, and not the federal government, run elections. Some states have an initiative petition process allowing measures to get on the ballot by petition. [Editor's note: The signatures must be registered voters] In other states, only the legislature can send something to a public vote.
Once it gets on the ballot, every voter in your state will be able to vote on it.”
That’s what I’ve found out so far, any input is appreciated because I still want to know more about the process ans what we as citizens can do within the system to make it work better for us all. I bet you feel the same way…thus this post.
Just a thought I caught flying by…what do you think?
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