Proposal
for legislation to implement online signature-gathering on official initiative,
referendum, recall, in lieu and nomination petitions
2.
Proposal
summary: I’m proposing that the California Legislature
pass a new law to allow eligible California voters to validly sign official
initiative, referendum, recall, in lieu, and nomination petitions online using
the same basic technology that is now employed by the Secretary of State’s
office to allow eligible citizens to register online to vote.
3.
Problem:
Signing official petitions online will solve three major problems: First, it’s hard to access eligible voters in
physical spaces because of increasing restrictions on access for
signature-gatherers. Second, people are
often rushed when they enter physical spaces and are accosted by
signature-gathers, and so can’t devote adequate time or attention to the
consideration of the proposed petition.
Third, the cost of paying a signature-gathering firm to qualify a
measure excludes many worthwhile proposals from consideration by the public.
4.
Solution:
By creating online versions of petitions that could be signed online by
eligible voters, 1. millions of people
would have access to these documents in a convenient way; 2. people would have all the time they wanted to
consider a petition, to research its pros and cons, and to decide in a relaxed
way if they want to sign it or not; and 3.
the cost of (successfully) circulating an official petition would drop
by an order of magnitude or more.
5.
Additional
background information: I have written extensively on “Smart
Initiatives,” another name for online signature-gathering. You can access information about this on the
Facebook page of the Coalition for an E-Initiative, at: https://www.facebook.com/CoalitionForAnEInitiative.
Further detailed information about Smart Initiatives can be found in my
online book, Etopian Elections:
Internet Voting, Smart Initiatives, and the Future of (Electronic)
Democracy, at: http://www.etopiamedia.net/si/pages/si-ee-htmls-5551212.html.
6.
Cost:
I don’t have a precise estimate of the cost of implementing online
signature-gathering on official petitions.
The petitions themselves could be hosted online by the state or by the
circulating parties, with a connection to the online signature-gathering
technology available from these private sites or only from the state site. The basic technology for this process has
already been developed and is in use by the Secretary of State’s office, so
modifying it for this application would be relatively inexpensive. The county election officials would be able
to save considerable time and money by being able to verify ALL the signatures
submitted online electronically. If
California moves first, it could re-sell this solution to the other six states
(Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington State) that also allow
online voter registration and have the initiative process. Funding for this proposal should come from
the state’s General Fund. Individual
petition circulators could also be charged for the incremental costs of using
the state system.
7.
Likely
support: The biggest supporters of Smart Initiatives
will be the millions of Californians who’ll be able to consider and sign
official petitions from the comfort and convenience of their offices, homes, or
wherever they are with their smartphone and tablets. Any organization with political interests but
lacking the millions of dollars now required to qualify a measure for the
ballot could also be counted on to support this measure.
8.
Arguments
in support: the arguments in support of Smart
Initiatives/e-signatures/online signature gathering are those implicit in Point
4: Solution. Letting people go online to sign official
petitions will expand the universe of those who can easily access these
documents, and who can consider them at their own pace and decide if they want
to sign them or not. It will reduce the
cost to circulators of gathering the necessary signatures. It will reduce the cost and improve the
accuracy of official calculations of who’s signed the petitions.
9.
Likely
opposition: the American Civil Liberties Union of
California has said they are opposed to online signature-gathering on official
petitions. Labor unions, corporations,
and wealthy individuals who can spend the requisite millions to qualify
initiatives under current law may oppose this measure.
10. Arguments in opposition: According
to Becca Cramer, Legislative Coordinator at the American
Civil Liberties Union of California Legislative Office: “We are concerned that e-signature
gathering could be used to more easily qualify initiatives that seek to limit
fundamental rights, so we do not support the use of e-signature gathering to
qualify initiatives at this time.” Some
will argue that allowing online signature gathering will make it too easy to
qualify initiatives and that doing so will result in a flood of ill-advised
initiatives. Others will complain that
online signature-gathering will relatively disenfranchise those without
Internet access.
