S/O of the "what would you protest" thread

[Aunt Sponge]

After thinking about that thread I started to wonder.

For those who would/wouldn't actually protest - what would you approach via the legal or voting system? What would compell you (overall situations, not just certain issues - but other things that might change in your life) to make you more involved in tehse ways?

Most states have 1, 2 or all 3 of these options at hand to allow citizens to directly step into the law-making process, etc.

1) Initiative - Provision that allows voters to place any legislative matters on ballot by getting enough signatures on a petition.

2) Referendum - Opposite of an initiative - procedure where citizens can reject or undo measure adopted by a legislature. If citizens don’t like some particular law that was passed then they can call for a referendum.

3) Recall - Used by citizens to remove elected official from office between elections. This happened in State of California when Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor.

[Viva]

Yeah. Its actually kind of crap. Have you ever tried collecting signatures? It's really hard. Even for a simple/popular issue. Let someone see you on the corner or outside the grocery store with a clipboard. Half the people will ignore you right off the bat. Only 1/2- 3/4 the people that hear you out will actually sign. I've been out for hours collecting signatures and managed to gather 10-15 signatures. And that is on a good day.

Also, the signatures have stipulations. Like in this state, if you are trying to recall a candidate all the people who sign have to be registered voters and they had to have actually voted in the previous election. They also have to live in the candidates district. If you manage to gather the thousands upon thousands of necessary signatures, the candidates lawyers will manage to disqualify a ton of them. In which case you have to start over.

This process takes such a long time that you are better off actually waiting for the term to end and just voting them out. There has been a recall petition on my governor for two years. He is INCREDIBLY unpopular. His own party hates him, his approval numbers are crap and no one thinks he will get reelected. But still, a recall petition takes two years? Hm. Sounds like a crap method of getting someone out of office.

None of these methods are actually that effective, honestly.

[Aunt Sponge]

Well - per recall and petition, I can see it being pointless.

But what about a referendum? This is the most common form of citizen intervention - and I know that referendum's are on our voter ballots routinely.

[LittleMsSunshine]

Originally Posted by vivalacrap Yeah. Its actually kind of crap. Have you ever tried collecting signatures? It's really hard. Even for a simple/popular issue. Let someone see you on the corner or outside the grocery store with a clipboard. Half the people will ignore you right off the bat. Only 1/2- 3/4 the people that hear you out will actually sign. I've been out for hours collecting signatures and managed to gather 10-15 signatures. And that is on a good day. Also, the signatures have stipulations. Like in this state, if you are trying to recall a candidate all the people who sign have to be registered voters and they had to have actually voted in the previous election. They also have to live in the candidates district. If you manage to gather the thousands upon thousands of necessary signatures, the candidates lawyers will manage to disqualify a ton of them. In which case you have to start over. This process takes such a long time that you are better off actually waiting for the term to end and just voting them out. There has been a recall petition on my governor for two years. He is INCREDIBLY unpopular. His own party hates him, his approval numbers are crap and no one thinks he will get reelected. But still, a recall petition takes two years? Hm. Sounds like a crap method of getting someone out of office. None of these methods are actually that effective, honestly.

You're gonna hate me... but I NEVER sign those. I'm not comfortable putting my name on something unless I'm well-versed on the issue.

[Aunt Sponge]

Originally Posted by LittleMsSunshine You're gonna hate me... but I NEVER sign those. I'm not comfortable putting my name on something unless I'm well-versed on the issue.

I do, if it's something I'm in support of.

I don't isng online petitions, though - i think that's putting too much of my self out there.