Pros And Cons Of The Ballot Initiative Process

228 Words1 Pages
My Argument: Thesis: The Ballot Initiative Process is titled in favor of the rich and well connected--this is a perversion of it’s original intent to empower citizens. It’s time for a change in the status quo. Because the cost of signature gathering is so high, Citizen groups cannot qualify an initiative for the ballot without big-money backing. This effectively makes big money the gatekeepers to the initiative process--they decide who gets to play and who doesn’t. If you were to drastically lower the cost of qualifying an initiative by finding a new way to get signatures, Citizen groups could qualify their props for the ballot without big money backing, effectively eliminating the gatekeeper aspect and making the process more democratic.