Equity Project Helps Pass Ballot Measures, Now GOP Pushback – NPR End-shutdown

Proposition 3 flyers are placed in boxes on November 6, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan. Michigan voters approved Proposition 3, enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution.

Brandon Bell/fake images

hide title

toggle title

Brandon Bell/fake images

Proposition 3 flyers are placed in boxes on November 6, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan. Michigan voters approved Proposition 3, enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution.

Brandon Bell/fake images

A side effect of the political divide in the states (blue states get bluer and red states redder) is that some policies have no chance of being passed by partisan state legislatures, even if a majority of voters support them. .

But a left-leaning advocacy group called the Fairness Project has created a playbook for using ballot initiatives to bypass GOP-led state legislatures.

Since 2016, he has supported successful initiatives to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid in at least nine states run entirely or mostly by Republicans at the time of the vote. (It also works in democratically run states.)

Now, it is one of several groups preparing to put abortion rights on the ballot in 2024. But the recent success of such measures in Republican-led states has drawn criticism from lawmakers and helped spur a series of attempts to stop ballot measures.

Ballot measures are expensive and time consuming

When Missouri-based minimum wage advocates wanted to run a statewide ballot initiative in 2017, they turned to the Equity Project.

“We’re working things out as we go, and the Fairness Project is a particular expert on this tactic,” says Missouri Jobs with Justice political director Richard Van Glahn.

Kansas City and St. Louis had tried to raise their minimum wages, but state lawmakers rejected those efforts. A ballot initiative would raise the statewide minimum wage, if approved by voters.

But winning requires “more than motivated people with clipboards,” says Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project.

Protesters gather outside a Hardee’s restaurant on February 13, 2017 in St Louis, Mo., in support of the minimum wage increase.

Jeff Curry/Getty Images

hide title

toggle title

Jeff Curry/Getty Images

Protesters gather outside a Hardee’s restaurant on February 13, 2017 in St Louis, Mo., in support of the minimum wage increase.

Jeff Curry/Getty Images

Citizen-initiated ballot measures to change state laws or constitutions are possible in almost half of the US states. To qualify for the ballot, petitions must gather thousands of signatures. Some campaigns then spend tens of millions of dollars to raise voter awareness.

The high cost of campaigns often means that they can act as policy vehicles for corporate interests, such as apps that employ temporary workers or sports betting companies.

The Equity Project, the brainchild of a California-based health care workers union, was created with the idea of ​​using ballot measures to address quality-of-life issues, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan tells NPR .

“We have to talk about the common good,” he says.

Money and messaging help sway conservative voters

To do that, the Equity Project partners with local advocacy organizations and national nonprofit organizations to provide the technical expertise needed to run an election campaign.

That means polling voters early in the process to gauge whether an issue has enough public support to succeed and helping organize signature collection. The group also examines the language of the proposed constitutional amendment or statute to make sure it can withstand legal challenges, Hall says.

When it comes to public messaging, the Equity Project tests which narratives will influence the most voters. For example, talking about returning voters’ federal tax dollars to their state may get more votes for Medicaid expansion than talking about it as a benefit program.

“The people who can separate these issues from their partisan identity are the people who help us cross the finish line in these conservative states,” Hall says.

Financing is another part of the process. The Equity Project sometimes contributes directly to the statewide campaigns it works with, but it is rarely the largest donor, according to campaign finance records. Other financial backers of the measures include dark money groups, progressive nonprofit organizations or, in the case of Medicaid expansion, health care and trade associations.

The Fairness Project, which operates as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit “social welfare” organization, does not have to disclose its patrons or all of its activities, drawing criticism from a correct learning research group that investigates environmental and trade union spending.

Communications and digital strategy director Alexis Magnan-Callaway declined to share a list of the Equity Project’s funders with NPR, but says unions, foundations and individuals “contribute to our work.”

A ‘Vote Center’ sign is seen during primary election day at the Barack Obama Elementary School on August 2, 2022, in St Louis, Missouri.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

hide title

toggle title

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

A ‘Vote Center’ sign is seen during primary election day at the Barack Obama Elementary School on August 2, 2022, in St Louis, Missouri.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Abortion Has Rocked the Ballot Measure Space

Since the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion last year, all state ballot measures affirming the right to abortion have passed and all those restricting the right have been defeated.

The Fairness Project participated in a $40 million campaign to pass Proposition 3 in Michigan last year, which codified the right to abortion in that state. It is now exploring such measures in several more states where abortion is restricted or prohibited.

These plans come as state legislatures clamp down on the voting process. Lawmakers in at least four states: Ohio, Florida, Idaho other Missouri — have recently introduced or advanced measures to make citizen-initiated measures more difficult to implement or approve. Last year, 11 state legislatures introduced or advanced bills that would introduce new barriers.

In Missouri, Republican state Rep. Mike Henderson told colleagues during a recent session that the state constitution has become too easy to edit.

“I think the Missouri constitution is a living document, but not an ever-expanding document,” he said. Henderson also argued that Missouri citizens may not understand why they are voting and that such campaigns may be intentionally misleading.

Subsequently, the state House of Representatives passed a resolution that proposed, which calls for raising the threshold for passing simple majority citizen-initiated ballot measures to 60%. However, Democrats have said the measure itself is misleading, because it starts with language about only allowing US citizens to votesomething already enshrined in the Missouri constitution.

“The effort to restrict the initiative process strikes me as a purely political power play,” says David Kimball, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

He says lawmakers are likely trying to prevent future abortion rights ballot measures and want to retain the power to make laws or introduce constitutional amendments themselves.