Can These GOP Bills Thwart Dems’ Abuse Of Ballot Initiatives?
In response to the perceived manipulation of ballot initiatives by Democrats during the 2024 elections, Republican officials in several states, including Idaho, are proposing measures to increase the difficulty of amending state constitutions through initiative petitions. The Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee has advanced a bill (SJR 101) that would raise the requirements for qualifying a ballot initiative from 6% of registered voters in 18 districts to 6% in all 35 districts. The bill needs two-thirds approval from both the Senate and House before being presented to voters. The intent is to create barriers to out-of-state interests promoting leftist agendas, as indicated by the amendment’s sponsor, GOP Senator Doug Okuniewicz.
This initiative comes after past attempts to impose similar restrictions were struck down by the Idaho Supreme Court. Notably, during the 2024 elections, various controversial measures backed by Democrats—often funded by notable out-of-state contributions—successfully altered state policies across the country, which spurred Republicans to take defensive action. Similar legislative efforts to tighten ballot initiative processes are also occurring in states like Florida, Missouri, and North Dakota, indicating a broader movement among GOP lawmakers to counter what they characterize as abuses of the citizen-led amendment process.
After witnessing Democrats weaponize the ballot initiative process to enshrine their radical agenda into state constitutions during the 2024 election, several Republican state officials are seeking to stymie such destructive efforts from being successfully deployed in their backyards.
On Friday, the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee advanced a measure raising the threshold for amending the state constitution via initiative petition proposals. The bill now heads to the full Senate floor, where it requires two-thirds support before it can cross over to the House.
If passed by two-thirds of both chambers, the measure would then go to voters for approval.
According to the left-wing Idaho Capital Sun, SJR 101 “calls for increasing the requirement to qualify a ballot initiative or referendum from the current threshold of 6% of registered voters statewide and 6% of voters in 18 different legislative districts to 6% of voters statewide and 6% of voters in all 35 legislative districts.” Amendment sponsor and GOP Sen. Doug Okuniewicz reportedly indicated the goal of the proposal is to place “a few speed bumps in the way” of out-of-state interests seeking to weaponize the ballot initiative process and shoehorn leftist priorities into Idaho’s founding document.
A similar measure passed by the legislature was struck down in 2021 by the Idaho Supreme Court. However, that was a statutory bill, whereas SJR 101 is a constitutional amendment that requires approval from two-thirds of the legislature and, as Okuniewicz noted to the Idaho Capital Sun, a majority of voters.
“The people brought this section of the Constitution into existence in 1912, and they can take it out or change it as they see fit,” Okuniewicz said, according to the outlet. “Simply put, SJR 101 is constitutional if the people pass it.”
As The Federalist previously reported, Democrat activists have hijacked citizen-initiated ballot measures to dramatically alter state constitutions throughout the country, including in Republican-friendly states. Boosted by Democrats’ dark money machine, these leftists craft deceptively worded amendments to deceive voters into approving left-wing policies they would otherwise be unlikely to support.
This strategy was evident during the 2024 elections, which saw duplicitous initiatives promoting abortion, marijuana legalization, and other Democrat-backed measures make their way onto states’ ballots.
In the case of Idaho, out-of-state groups with leftist ties collectively gave millions of dollars to the organization supporting Proposition 1, which sought to bring a top-four ranked-choice voting system to the Gem State’s elections. The initiative proposal was overwhelmingly rejected by 2024 voters (70 to 30 percent).
[READ: The Good, Bad, And Ugly Of 2024’s Abortion Ballot Referendums]
It’s not just Idaho where Republicans are seeking to stymie Democrats’ abuse of the citizen-led ballot amendment process. GOP officials in numerous states have put forward proposals seeking to implement safeguards around the ballot qualification process for these proposals.
Earlier this month, as part of his call for a special session of the legislature to tackle illegal immigration, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also requested lawmakers to pass measures strengthening the integrity of the ballot amendment process. This included suggested policies that would “[e]liminate third-party collection of petition forms and implement the same verification measures currently used for voting,” “[m]ake it a third-degree felony for a person to offer or accept compensation to sign or refrain from signing an initiative petition,” and more.
During the 2024 cycle, the DeSantis administration released a report weeks before the general election contending a “large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions” were submitted to get the pro-abortion amendment on the ballot, according to reports. The state also levied a $328,000 fine against the group behind the amendment, which subsequently paid a $164,000 fine as part of a post-election settlement.
[READ: Boosted By Out-Of-State Dark Money, Alaska’s Ranked-Choice Voting System Is Here To Stay]
In Missouri, Republican lawmakers have introduced constitutional amendment proposals aimed at raising the threshold for proposed ballot measures to take effect. Initiative petition reform came close to passing last year but was killed by the state’s then-GOP Senate leadership.
The legislature’s inaction ultimately led to left-wing activists successfully enshrining abortion into the Missouri Constitution during the 2024 election.
Other states with pending legislation aimed at enhancing protections and standards for the ballot amendment process include Arkansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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