Bringing the question to the Supreme Court. Secretary Keisling answers that if the state really wanted to squelch grassroots efforts, it could simply raise the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot from the current, rather low 73,000. At least one aspect of how initiatives are run in Oregon is out of the hands of the state and in the lap of the U.S. Supreme Court. This fall, the high court will hear a challenge to a Colorado law that requires petition circulators be registered voters. Oregon too requires circulators be voters.
Plaintiffs contend the requirement violates free speech rights and endangers the initiative process.
Keisling answers that signature gatherers should be invested in the state's affairs. Mississippi residents will vote in November whether to require circulators in that state be residents. Marbet fears attempts to regulate the process are only going to increase. There's no doubt that there is a chilling effect here. The thing that I fear is that we are going to do away with the one check and balance that I thought democracy was all about.