REPORT: ERN's Groundbreaking Report Identifies Partisan Abuses of Ballot Initiatives and Proposes Nonpartisan Solutions
Organization recommends urgent safeguards to prevent abuses of power
A groundbreaking new report from the Election Reformers Network (ERN) shows how state legislatures and elected officials have manipulated the ballot initiative process to stymie the will of voters in many states across the country. The report, Partisan Control of Ballot Measures: How to Stop Manipulation of Citizen Initiatives, was released February 3, 2025.
From 2010 to 2023, state legislatures amended or repealed more than 20% of voter-approved initiatives. In addition, partisan officials, such as secretaries of state and attorneys general, have used their control of ballot language, fiscal assessments, and signature verification to mislead voters or block measures from reaching voters. And, the report finds, the controversial actions are growing increasingly blatant.
“The problem is clear. States that have given voters the right to advance ballot initiatives need to protect that right against abuses by elected officials,” said ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson. “The will of the majority has been thwarted many times in many states. For voters, these abuses seem to prove system is rigged against them. For politicians and political parties, win-at-all-costs is the new and dangerous imperative.”
Abuses have occurred in blue states and red. One of the most egregious examples occurred this year in Ohio, where Issue 1 proposed an independent redistricting commission. when Secretary of State Frank LaRose used his control of the state ballot board to write a title and summary that completely misled voters. For a measure intended to “ban partisan gerrymandering,” LaRose’s approved language described. a commission “required to gerrymander.”
“These situations illustrate the importance of reform to the ballot measure process,” said Johnson. “The solution is to put people in charge of election processes who don’t directly benefit from the outcome. There's good news: at the state level voters on both sides strongly reject self-dealing by those in power. Protecting the people’s right to initiative has strong bipartisan support even as our nation’s polarization intensifies.”
ERN is already advocating structural changes to the ballot initiative process. The organization partnered with Missouri-based Show Me Integrity to prepare a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment, filed in December 2024. If passed, the measure would prohibit the legislature from “weakening the citizens’ direct lawmaking power” and require an 80 percent approval threshold in the state House and Senate to change laws established through citizen ballot measures. It would also create the nation’s first citizen commission to manage ballot measures.
“Ballot measures are vital, especially in the many states under single party control,” said report lead author Joseph Cerrone. “Medicaid expansion, tax reform, protection of reproductive rights are examples of policies from the left and the right that have depended on the citizens’ ballot measure. The legal loopholes that leave the initiative process vulnerable need to be rectified to ensure that the will of the voters is upheld, which will increase faith in the integrity of our election processes.”