Ballotpedia:WikiProject Law

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State Constitutions WikiProject

The Ballotpedia Law Project is a project on Ballotpedia to build and improve its articles about the laws that govern ballot measures. Since there are many different {{types of ballot measures}}, there are correspondingly many different sets of articles about these laws that we either do, or should, include on BP. These sets of articles include:

Laws governing ballot measures

• Laws governing the initiative process, including:

• Petition drive deadlines
• {{Signature requirements}}

• Laws governing how state constitutions can be amended

• Laws governing constitutional conventions

• Laws governing recall
• State statutes governing ballot measures
• {{Campaign finance laws}}
• Laws governing votes on school bond and tax measures
• Lawsuits related to ballot measures
• Changes to laws governing ballot measures

Updating petition requirements & deadlines

For every election, each I&R state stipulates specific signature requirements and deadlines in order to qualify initiatives for upcoming ballots. Below are the project pages to track updates made to "signature requirement" articles as well as "petition deadline" articles. (For example: Alaska signature requirements and Petition drive deadlines, 2010)

• Ballotpedia:WikiProject Law/2011 and 2012

Next steps

1. Expand articles about local recall laws for New York, Oklahoma, Virginia.

2. Clean up {{Laws governing the initiative process}}, {{Laws governing ballot measures}}

3. Establish writing guidelines

4. Ballotpedia:WikiProject State Constitutions/2010

Writing guidelines

• Ballotpedia:WikiProject Law/Writing guidelines

Templates

These templates are in use in this project (also see law templates):

Talk page template:

This template goes on the talk (discussion) page of articles in this project (that is, any articles that are related to laws).

• {{WikiProject Law}} (shortcuts: {{wl}} and {{wpl}})

Identifying badge:

• {{law badge}} links to Portal:Ballot measure law and should go anywhere that it will be convenient to have a quick way to access that portal page.

Navigational templates:

• {{Law}}
• {{Signature requirements}}
• {{Laws governing the initiative process}}
• {{Types of ballot measures}}
• {{lawsuit}}
• {{Requirements}}
• {{Campaign finance laws}}
• {{School bond and tax elections}}
• {{State constitutions}} (related)

Improvement templates:

• {{Law update}}
• {{Law expand}}
• {{Law intro}}
• {{Law missing}}
• {{Law quality}}
• {{law stub}}

User badge:

• {{User WikiProject Law}}
• {{User WikiProject Constitutions}} (related)

List of all signature requirement charts in one place:

• Ballotpedia:Signature requirements templates

Articles to improvve

Ballotpedia:WikiProject Law/Articles to improve contains a list of articles within the law project that have been identified as needing a specific type of improvement.

Desired articles

• Hurst v. State Ballot Law Commission (Massachusetts 1998)

• Advisory Opinion to Attorney General re Independent Nonpartisan Commission

• Fine v. Firestone

• Rivera-Cruz v. Gray, 1958, Florida

• Livermore v. Waite, California

• Burson v. Freeman, 1992

• Morse v. Frederick, 2007

• Gathright v. City of Portland, 2006

• Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., 1995

See also

• Ballotpedia:Projects
• Ballotpedia:Project Directory
• Ballotpedia:Community

	v • d • e Signature requirements
Signature requirements	Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Florida • Idaho • Illinois • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • South Dakota • Utah • Washington • Washington, D.C. • Wyoming
Petition companies	American Petition Consultants • Arno Political Consultants • Bader & Associates, Inc. • Canvasser Services • Capitol Assets • Democracy Direct • Democracy Resources • Discovery Petition Management • Fieldworks • JSM, Inc. • Kimball Petition Management • LAMM Political Partners, LLC • Masterson & Wright • National Ballot Access • National Petition Management • National Solutions • National Voter Outreach • Progressive Campaigns, Inc.
Terms	Approved for circulation • Circulation period • Circulator • Circulator affidavit • Forged signature • Fraudulent signature • Invalid signature • Paid circulator • Petition • Random sampling • Registered voter • Signature certification • Signer • Signer intent • Valid signature • Volunteer circulator • Signature transcription
Petition drive deadlines	2008 deadlines • 2009 deadlines • 2010 deadlines • 2011 deadlines • 2012 deadlines
Signature law	States where signature requirements are based on votes cast for governor

	v • d • e Laws governing the initiative process
State overviews	Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Florida · Idaho · Maine · Massachusetts · Michigan · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Mexico · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · South Dakota · Utah · Washington · Wyoming
Signatures	Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Florida • Idaho • Illinois • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • South Dakota • Utah • Washington • Washington, D.C. • Wyoming
Lawsuits	2010 litigation • 2009 litigation • 2008 litigation • Ballot title litigation • Lawsuit news • Pay-per-signature litigation • Petitioner access • Post-certification signature challenges • Prohibited subjects • Signature challenges • Signature recovery lawsuits • Single-subject lawsuits • Superseding initiatives
Requirements	Access • Badges • Ballot title issues • Deadlines • Defining a signature • Distribution • Pay restrictions • Signature withdrawal • Residency • Signature numbers • Single subject • Signature transcription
Changes	2007 changes • 2008 changes • 2009 changes • 2010 changes • 2011 changes • Pseudo-reforms of the ballot initiative process
Terms	Ballot summary • Petition • Circulation period • Circulator • Paid circulator • Volunteer circulator • Circulator affidavit • Signer • Valid signature • Forged signature • Fraudulent signature • Invalid signature • Electronic petition signature • Legislative tampering • Registered voter