Word: ballot
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...have quite a lot to vote on: pesky things called initiatives, or propositions. During the Progressive Era, California enacted the recall, the referendum, and the initiative processes, all efforts to clean out corruption in Sacramento by promoting direct democracy. All it takes to place a proposition on the statewide ballot is a fee of $200 and signatures of registered voters equal to 5 or 7 percent—depending on the type of initiative—of the turnout of the previous gubernatorial election. Unfortunately, what progressives fought so hard to implement has now been hijacked by special interest groups...
...ease of getting an initiative on the ballot, in this election alone California voters can vote on 16 propositions, ranging from health policy to Indian gaming, from stem cell research to criminal law. By the next election, 16 might be considered chump change. In 1998, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) reported that between 1976 and 1996, voters voted on 106 statewide ballot initiatives, up from 29 during the previous 20 years...
...constraints. More often than not, the budget figures proposed in these initiatives either underestimate or overestimate projected expenses on projects. The Legislature should be given more freedom to allocate money since situations are always ever-changing. Third, the state can make it tougher for initiatives to qualify for the ballot by requiring more signatures. Five percent is hardly proof of pressing urgency for change...
...talked to people who had already sent in their absentee ballot and who were really excited about voting, but I also talked to people who don’t believe in voting, are not registered and don’t care,” said Margo B. Hoppin...
Aaron J. Mowery ’08 said he has already voted for Keyes by absentee ballot...