A left-leaning advocacy group called the Fairness Project has created a playbook for using ballot initiatives to go around GOP-led state legislatures. Since 2016, it has backed successful initiatives to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid.
The Hill: Abortion battles fuel push against ballot measures
That “threw fuel on the fire when it comes to efforts to restrict ballot measures,” Hannah Ledford, deputy executive director and campaigns director of the ballot measure group Fairness Project, said in an email. Every state that put abortion on the ballot in 2022 voted in favor of protecting access to the procedure in some way, including Republic
CBS News: Ballot measures have been critical in defending abortion rights. Now, GOP politicians want to change the rules
Kelly Hall, executive director of The Fairness Project, said the 2022 victories for abortion rights advocates are a motivating factor for GOP state lawmakers to push the changes to the ballot-measure process. "Lawmakers who are elected to represent the people are clear they don't want the people's view to be expressed in law," she said.
The Wall Street Journal: State Lawmakers Take Aim at Voter-Led Ballot Measures
“It’s important to situate the attacks on the ballot measure process as part of the broader set of attacks on voting rights and democracy writ large,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project
Jezebel: Ohio Is Spending $20 Million to Thwart a Statewide Vote on Abortion
Fairness Project executive director Kelly Hall said in a statement that Republicans are “threatened by the idea of voters being able to make progress without permission from the legislature.”
Breaking: Ohio General Assembly Passes Anti-Democratic Supermajority Requirement for Ballot Measures
Ohio illustrates growing red-state trend of attacking direct democracy to undermine voter-led progress at the ballot box.
Associated Press: Ohio constitution overhaul faces deadline, backlash
The Ohio back-and-forth comes amid similar Republican efforts to restrict direct democracy in Missouri, North Dakota and Mississippi, according to Fairness Project, a Washington-based group that pushes ballot measures across the U.S.
Rolling Stone: Missouri AG Claims Legalizing Abortion Could Cost the State…$51 Billion
Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a group working on ballot measures around the country sees Missouri as a microcosm of a larger anti-democratic dynamic manifesting across the country. “Politicians are going well beyond their legal obligations in their roles, their legal responsibilities to faithfully execute their offices.
Red State Legislators Advance Attacks on the Initiative Process in Retaliation to Voter-Led Progress at the Ballot
Republican legislators in several states could pass new attacks on the ballot initiative process as soon as next week, including Ohio and Missouri.