Some lawmakers try to tighten rules on ballot initiatives

"Republican legislators in states across the country have introduced dozens of bills that would make significant changes to the initiative and referendum process, tightening rules and raising requirements after their voters approved progressive proposals that legislators opposed or refused to take up," Reid Wilson reports for The Hill, a Washigton, D.C., news outlet.

Critics say the bills are an attempt to muzzle citizens who want to make their voices heard. "This is, combined with what we saw after the success of many of these ballot initiatives in 2018, state legislatures undermining the will of the people," said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, who runs the progressive Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. "Rather than listen to the will of the people, elected officials are undermining the will of the people."

Some Republicans behind such bills say they're not trying to stifle democracy, and "say they are necessary to curb the influence of big-money groups that increasingly fund some of the most expensive ballot measure campaigns across the country," Wilson reports. "Other legislators said easy access to the ballot has led to a raft of ill-considered public policy that does not face the same scrutiny as legislation reviewed and scored by trained legal analysts."

Bills to tighten initiative rules aren't just by Republicans; Democrats in Oregon and Washington have proposed similar measures after low signature requirements led to crowded ballots, Wilson reports.