Let’s Go Washington, a campaign supporting six citizen-initiated ballot measures in Washington, submitted 2.6 million signatures for the initiatives before the deadline on Dec. 29, 2023. At least 324,516 signatures must be found to be valid for each initiative. That’s 1.95 million total signatures between the six initiatives. State Rep. Jim Walsh (R-19) sponsored the…
On Dec. 29, the Save Our Local Restaurants PAC withdrew a veto referendum from the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot that would have repealed California Assembly Bill 257 (AB 257). AB 257 was designed to establish a 10-member fast food council authorized to adopt a minimum wage for fast food restaurant employees not to exceed $22…
Legislatures enacted more pieces of legislation related to direct democracy—ballot initiatives, referendums, and recall petitions—in 2023 than the previous five years. In 2023, 45 bills and resolutions were enacted, which exceeds the annual average of 32 for this period. The previous largest number of bills enacted was 44 in 2019. While there was an increase…
There were 264 local measures in 29 different states within the top 100 largest cities in the U.S. and state capitals. Of the 264 measures, 219 (82.95%) were approved, and 45 (17.05%) were defeated. Eleven (4.16%) were citizen initiatives and 253 (95.83%) were referred to the ballot by city councils, school districts, or other local…
Texas registered voter turnout at the Nov. 7 constitutional amendment election was 14.4%—the highest since 2005 when it reached 18%. 2023 was six percentage points higher than 2021, which saw a turnout of 8.8%. This amounted to over a million more voters turning out for the election. Texas voters decided on 14 constitutional amendments on…