Arizona's 2014 Pilot Citizen Initiative Review
Final Report
Description:... "Arizona is among the few states with a constitution that allows for direct democracy through the citizens' initiative process, empowering voters to submit qualifying propositions to the ballot for binding public policy and laws independent of the state Legislature ... [N]early three-quarters of Arizona voters find ballot measures too complicated and too confusing to fully comprehend. As a result, 60 percent ... struggle through the propositions, while more than 20 percent don't vote ... Some voters (5.5 percent) just vote 'no' on ballot propositions they ... do not have enough information about ... Arizona joined ... Oregon and Colorado to pilot its first Citizens' Initiative Review (CIR) September 18-21, 2014, in Phoenix. Morrison Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan public policy center at Arizona State University, invited 20 participants to deliberate ... over a municipal pension reform measure on the city ballot ... The intent of the CIR is to engage, empower, and educate voters in a forthright, transparent, and credible manner separate from the slick, high-powered, well-funded (and often-misleading) campaigns on either or both sides of a particular ballot proposition ... [P]articipants deliberated over the initiative's reliability, relevance, and real impact, to develop a factually vetted, one-page Citizens' Statement with the pros and cons ... with the goal of helping other voters make a more informed decision ..."--Page 1
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