[EL] Michigan Secretary of State seeks to block ballot initiatives by special interests

[Thomas J. Cares]

Perhaps more a policy issue, than a legal one, but I would go in the
opposite direction and allow voters to sign petitions online. To some
degree, this would level the playing field. Popular initiatives, without
wealthy backers, could potentially qualify from a costless spread of links
throughout Facebook, twitter, mass emails, the blogosphere, etc.

Now, if you didn't want to affect how hard or easy it is to qualify an
initiative - or perhaps make it harder for 'special interest initiatives'
to qualify, without making it harder for populist ones, compared to the
status quo - you could offset this by increasing the required number of
signatures.


Thomas Cares

Sent from my iPhone

On Friday, November 30, 2012, Lowenstein, Daniel wrote:

>          The fact that all the initiative proposals in question in
> Michigan were defeated is consistent with what I reported three decades ago
> based on research in California, that a large spending advantage is of
> little help in trying to pass an initiative, though it is quite potent in
> trying to defeat one.
>
>           I continue to believe, as Bob Stern and I argued in a law review
> article, that Meyer v. Grant, which struck down a prohibition on paid
> initiative circulators, was wrongly decided.  In my view, it is no
> infringement whatever on freedom of speech for the state to provide ballot
> opportunities only for proposals that better demonstrate a level of popular
> support than is possible when paid circulators are used.  However, there is
> a good likelihood that the Court would uphold the method I think is best
> for qualifying initiatives, to do away entirely with circulators and to
> have initiatives available for signature only in public or quasi-public
> places such as firehouses, libraries, or post offices.
>
>              Best,
>
>              Daniel H. Lowenstein
>              Director, Center for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions
> (CLAFI)
>              UCLA Law School
>              405 Hilgard
>              Los Angeles, California 90095-1476
>              310-825-5148
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu <javascript:;> [
> law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu <javascript:;>] On Behalf
> Of Sam Bagenstos [sbagen at gmail.com <javascript:;>]
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 5:23 AM
> To: law-election at uci.edu <javascript:;>
> Subject: [EL] Michigan Secretary of State seeks to block ballot
> initiatives by special interests
>
>
> What do Bopp, Smith, et al., make of this story?
>
>
> Michigan Secretary of State seeks to block ballot initiatives by special
> interests
> http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012311300082
>
> (Sent from Free Press)
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
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