The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Daniel Donner, and Cara Zelaya, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Subscribe to The Downballot, our weekly podcast
Leading Off
● Ballot Measures: Abortion rights. Curtailing gerrymandering. Medicaid expansion. What do they all have in common? Progressives have secured each of these priorities and more in red states across the country by using ballot initiatives to circumvent recalcitrant GOP legislatures. But rather than reconsider their hostility toward these popular measures, Republicans are trying to make it harder—or even impossible—to pass initiatives in the first place.
- Bumping up the requirements. The approaches vary, but they include increasing the threshold for initiatives to pass, which is typically 50%, to a supermajority; increasing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot; limiting the topics initiatives can address; and even banning organizers from paying petition-gatherers.
- Targeting progressives but not conservatives. One cynical tactic: expanding the number of counties or districts that signatures must be collected from, which forces progressives to unearth supporters in dark-red rural areas. Conservatives, though, can still readily find backers even in blue cities thanks to their densely packed populations.
- Fighting restrictions on the ballot box at the ballot box. Many proposals to undermine voter-backed initiatives actually require the approval of voters themselves before they can take effect—and most voters don't appreciate it when lawmakers try to strip away their powers. In fact, they've rejected recent GOP efforts in Arkansas and South Dakota by wide margins.
Read more about the 10 states where Republicans are currently waging their war on direct democracy, and how they're prosecuting it.
Read More