BallotMeasure.com Initiative - Allows voters to sign initiative, referendum and recall petitions electronically

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Lewis Marcus
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Amends Article Four Section One of the Oregon Constitution by adding a new subsection, which subsection shall read:

(a) For the purposes of this subsection, word "Signature" or "Sign" means voter approval by Electronic Transmission.

b) For the purposes of this subsection "Electronic Transmission" means transmission via computer or other means over the Internet or other computer network to the computer receiving such transmission.

(b) This subsection entitles any qualified voter to utilize Electronic Transmission to sign initiative, referendum and recall petitions. The Secretary of State and all election officials of all political sub-divisions of the State shall be required to accept signatures submitted by Electronic Transmission.

(c) This subsection in no way affects conventional means of petitioning. Petition signatures may continue to be gathered by conventional means or through a combination of conventional means and electronic signature gathering. Petition signatures submitted that are in part conventional and in part electronic shall be sampled separately by the election officials if statistical sampling methods are used.

(d) Electronically generated petitions shall require the qualified voter to enter their First and Last Name, Residential Address, City, and County in substantial conformity with their voter-registration data. Election officials shall verify signatures from the information provided by the signers. To protect the integrity of this petitioning method, all signatures shall be deemed valid unless election officials prove any signatures to be invalid. Signatures proven invalid shall be forwarded to the Department of Justice. Signer's contact information such as e-mail address, telephone number and signer's unique identifier information shall not become public record and shall not be conveyed by any entity that receives that confidential information except as follows. Until such a time as the State or all of the Counties issue voters a unique identifier for the purpose of electronic petitioning, circulators of electronic petitions and the electronic sites engaged in petitioning shall collect the aforementioned voter registration information and contact information (e-mail address, telephone) and one or more identifying marks to convey that information to election officials for the purpose of validating signatures.

(e) Within one year following enactment, the Secretary of State and all Counties shall accept petition signatures submitted by Electronic Transmission. Eighteen months after enactment, all election officers of all political subdivisions of the state that are required to accept petitions under this section shall accept signatures submitted by Electronic Transmission and conveyed in an electronic database format.

(f) The people reserve to themselves the initiative power, the referendum power, and the recall power through the Electronic Transmission of their signatures. Statutes and rules related to conventional pen and paper methods to gather signatures and validate petitions shall not apply to signatures submitted by Electronic Transmission. The legislators shall review the process of electronic petitioning and create new provisions which shall enhance, simplify and expand enfranchisement of this process. New legislative provisions or rules shall enhance the process and may not encumber, constrain, restrict, hinder, complicate, impede, hamper, or obstruct the peoples express right to electronic petitioning. To minimize the wrongful manipulation, fraudulent use, or violation of the integrity of the means of electronic petitioning, the legislature shall establish suitable sanctions against those illegal acts. To protect the privacy of petition signers, the legislature shall establish suitable sanctions for the unlawful use of signer's contact information including but not limited to e-mail, telephone numbers and any unique voter identifier information.

Q & A About the Measure

How does this change the current process?

It's important to note that this is an enhancement, it doesn't eliminate or replace the process that occurs today. Instead it give measure sponsors the opportunity to put their petitions online and collect signatures from people that otherwise wouldn't be able to participate in the process.

Aren't there too many ballot measures already? Won't this make things worse?

There have been a lot of measures in recent elections. The November 2000 ballot had 26 measures, almost double the average of all the elections in the '90s. Does that mean there were too many? Not if you think about why measures appear on the ballot. This the process that allows the citizens of Oregon to create or adjust that laws that matter to them. No matter what your political preferences, there must have been measures that you felt strongly about (either for or against.)

Nothing gets on the ballot for 2002 unless at least 66,000 of your fellow Oregon voters sign a petition requesting that the matter be put to a vote. And it takes almost 90,000 signatures to qualify a measure that changes the Oregon constitution — 8% of all the votes cast in the 1998 election. You may think that one or two people “control” the initiative process statewide, but that really isn't so. Millions of signatures are collected in each election cycle, from voters like you. Fewer than half of the petitions that circulated for the 2000 election collected enough signatures to be certified for the ballot.

Again, are there too many measures? Not if you think that active participation by voters is a good thing! Will this make it easier to get measures on the ballot in the future? Maybe. But, as always, only if a substantial number of Oregon voters agree that a measure is worthy of being put on the statewide ballot. Sponsoring a statewide measure takes a lot of effort and a lot of grass-roots support. No special interest group can "magically" cause a measure to be on the ballot!

How would a "signature" be verified?

Let's compare with how it works today. You come out of your local grocery store and some asks, "Are you registered to vote in Oregon?” Being too polite to shove on by, you agree to sign one (or more) of the petitions being presented to you. At the end of the day, those petition sheets are submitted to the campaign. Once the campaign has collected the required number of signatures, the sheets are submitted to the Secretary of State for validation. The sheets are counted. Then comes a tedious process of random sampling to compare signatures on those sheets with the signatures on voter registration cards. If 10% of the sampled signatures are found to be invalid, then 10% of the total submitted signatures are discarded. Why are signatures invalidated? Either the signer isn't registered in the designated county, the signature doesn't match the card, or the name or address are illegible. Also, if any duplicate signatures are detected, they are invalid. Finally, your signature can be discarded if the petition sheet itself was mishandled, improperly copied, not signed or dated by the petitioner, or any number of other reasons.

How is it going to work under our proposal? Well, first of all, you get to do this from the comfort of your own computer! Secondly, the "illegible” part goes away. The county election department (responsible for validation) will be able match up names and addresses more efficiently. Finally, when you register with BallotMeasure.com, you will have to specify the answer to a question. If the county elections office wants to confirm that it was you who signed, they can contact you and verify the answer to the question. In the future, the state may assign other methods for validating individual voters. Electronic signatures will simplify the audit process substantially, though it cannot guarantee that signers are eligible voters any more than today's petition circulators can confirm that. And remember, it is and will continue to be a crime to illegally sign petitions.

What about privacy?

Privacy matters a lot. We know you are careful about divulging your personal information online. We take steps to protect you. Your registration and signature information is transmitted securely between your computer and ours. Your personal information is swept from our server nightly and stored only on computers that are not directly connected to the internet. All that remains online is your BallotMeasure.com login information, so that you can return here in the future. We don't track which petitions you've signed unless you select that option.

What happens if new technology is invented? Can this process be changed?

Yes! Of course nobody can predict the path that future technology may take. The measure doesn't intend to specify any single means for signing or validating individuals. The state legislature is charged with creating statutes to further enhance the process as new technology becomes available. This measure merely amends the constitution (written 100 years ago), and enables the current process to be conducted in an electronic fashion. What we're presenting on this site is our suggestion for how the process could work, using today's technology.

Facts About the Measure

INCREASES THE INTEGRITY OF THE INITIATIVE PROCESS
• Currently, an average of about 25% of signatures collected are ruled invalid.
• Computer-based signatures will be virtually 100% valid.

REDUCES THE INFLUENCE OF BIG MONEY IN THE PROCESS
• The high cost of paid petitioning has allowed big money to dominate the process.
• Computer based petitioning will allow new ideas to drive the initiative process.

PROTECTS AGAINST FRAUD AND FORGERIES
• Currently, fraud and forgeries have marred the integrity of the process.
• This initiative requires stiff penalties for fraud and requires invalid signatures to be investigated.

ALLOWS ACCESS TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
• Currently, homebound persons with disabilities and those unable to hold a pen are excluded from the process.
• Computer based petitioning allows persons with severe disabilities to participate in our initiative process.

INCREASES THE EFFICIENCY OF THE VALIDATION PROCESS
• Currently only a small sample of signatures are checked for validity by election officials.
• Computer data base signatures can be 100% cross-referenced with voter rolls with the click of a mouse.
• Election officials may further validate signatures with a phone call or an E-mail to signers.

ALLOWS CONVENTIONAL MEANS OF PETITIONING TO CONTINUE
• Computer based petitioning shall be done in addition to conventional means.

PUTS OREGONIANS BACK IN CHARGE OF OUR INITIATIVE PROCESS
• Currently most paid petitioners migrate to Oregon from high-unemployment areas of Northern California.
• Computer based petitioning will allow Oregon campaigns to interact directly with Oregon voters.

BRINGS THE INITIATIVE PROCESS INTO THE 21st CENTURY
You can pay your taxes online and purchase anything from groceries to automobiles; the time has come to bring Oregon's initiative process to the Internet.