Washblog

I definitely think that would be a good idea.  There may be some security hurdles to make it a fair process, but there should be no reason that regular citizens can't print off their own petitions to get sigs from their friends and neighbors.

PortDork

by PortDork on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 11:50:38 PM PST

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I think it's a great idea to have the initiatives available for anyone to print on their own.  But,
I think one of the main drawbacks to having people able to print something from their own printers is that files are too easily changed by people who know what they are doing, and an initiave asking for 10 million dollars being signed in Seattle might have people refusing to sign in Yakima because the initiative says that they are asking for 100 million dollars.  Changing the text of the initiative itself can be really subtle, and we need to make sure that people are signing the same thing all over the state.  And it would be a nightmare for the Secretary of State's office to confirm not only the signatures, but that the text of the measure had not been modified.

There's a way around that , although it wouldn't be printed on a home computer.  What if the initiative campaign made a PDF file of the initiative available on their website?  This would enable anyone with access to the web to download the file and send it to a local union printshop or even Kinkos.  This might save the expenses of having a centralized printer do all the printing of thousands of the pages, spread the costs out among people who really support the idea, and enable immediate distribution of the petition as soon as the final version was approved by the group writing the initiative.

PDF files can be protected from modification, and the portion of the form where the signature gatherer puts his/her information could include something that says they accept personal responsibility for the fact that the copy they are turning in is an unmodified version with the initiative text the same as the text filed with the Secretary of State's office.  That would help limit the threat of changing 10 million to 100 million.

Another thing.  From what you have posted on your blog, there is nothing in the law that prevents this sort of process from being used now.

by chadlupkes on Thu Mar 09, 2006 at 07:48:05 AM PST

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How would PDC reporting work? If someone buys a case of paper and prints off copies of the initiative on their laser printer how does the campaign for the initiative report those costs?

Additionally, I can't see a way (technologically) to assure with 100% certainty that any one initiative petition is unadulterated.

The labor intensive fix would be to have the text on every submitted petition compared to the official wording at the SOS and have any that don't match thrown out.

Logistically, how will initiative campaigns "authorize" people to distribute petitions? What's to stop a malicious person from printing some petitions and then throwing them away? Or, generating news coverage of "fake initiative petitions" and driving down the number of people signing?

Just some thoughts off the top of my head. I'm sure some of them are already addressed in the initiative laws. I guess ultimately I'd ask is this a step forward for participatory democracy or is it just a gimmick.

by Nathan Horter on Thu Mar 09, 2006 at 08:50:26 AM PST

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a compromise between the need to have certain information on the front in readable type and the need to retain some room for the sigs and addresses. Making sure people can see with ease exactly what they are signing is a high priority.

If it were me, I would focus on shrinking Eiman's head to fit his tiny little brain.

by Particle Man on Tue Mar 14, 2006 at 09:52:50 AM PST

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