Last month, I found myself in a committee hearing room in Olympia, listening to a panel of labor-union officials testify in favor of sharp restrictions on initiative signature drives. They said paying canvassers by the signature gives them an incentive to forge people’s names. Then I asked a simple question: Could they identify a single case of fraud in this state over the last 13 years?
A representative of the state teachers’ union accepted the challenge. “I’ll take the question and say I don’t have that handy,” she said, “but I will make sure to follow up with the committee on behalf of our testimony.”
This happened Jan. 20, and I’m still waiting. She hasn’t gotten back to us, and I don’t think she ever will. I already know the answer. There are no cases. There’s no problem.
The non-existent issue of rampant fraud in initiative campaigns is being used in Olympia to justify an attack on one of the most cherished rights of the people. Senate Bill 5973 would make it so difficult and expensive to run initiative campaigns that they might need to be listed as an endangered species. My side calls it the “Initiative Killer” bill, and it is the latest in a long series of anti-democratic proposals from my Democratic colleagues.
Our state constitution calls the initiative process “the first power reserved by the people,” and since 1912, it has served as an important safety valve. We the people have used it hundreds of times for issues large and small, everything from allowing the sale of colored oleomargarine to banning racial discrimination in state contracts and college admissions. Initiatives give us a chance to pass bills the Legislature won’t, and to rein in state government when it goes too far.
And some people have a problem with that.
Since my Democratic colleagues took full control in Olympia in 2018, they have worked to squelch opposition as they press their “progressive” agenda of higher taxes, weaker law enforcement, and greater government control over our daily lives. Often those opposition voices come from those they are elected to serve – as we saw in 2024, when the people presented six initiatives to the Legislature to overturn key elements of that agenda, or this year, when they presented two.
The first move against the people came in 2023, when my colleagues voted to take away the “advisory votes” that allowed them to express their opinion on tax increases. In 2024, my colleagues voted to place propaganda statements directly on the ballot, warning of dire consequences if the people choose to support this initiative or that.
But the Initiative Killer bill is the worst of them all. It would:
Prohibit canvassers from being paid by the signature – the most practical way to gather the enormous number of signatures required to place a measure on the ballot or before the Legislature. That’s 308,911 at latest count, and about 400,000 just to be safe. When canvassers are paid by the hour, costs skyrocket.Require campaigns to turn in 1,000 signatures when an initiative is filed, before a ballot title is issued and a full signature drive can commence – adding needless delays to the process.Allow third parties to sue initiative campaigns, tying them up in court and reducing the amount of time available to gather signatures.
Arguments for this bill are baloney. The bill cites a “recurring pattern of fraud” in pay-per-signature drives, yet there have been only a half-dozen cases over the last three decades, out of millions of signatures collected. All were detected by state elections officials or the campaigns themselves, and the last was in 2013.
A whopping 10,520 people signed on to the Legislature’s website to express their opposition when the bill came before the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections Committee. Current and former elections officials minced no words. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said it would “add another layer of burden.” Former Secretary Sam Reed, a Republican, called it “a voter suppression bill.”
A couple of days later, my colleagues shrugged and passed it anyway. Watch for votes on the House and Senate floors later this session.
I think about that testimony we heard from that panel of union members. They complained about multi-millionaires buying their way onto the ballot, as if the signatures of hundreds of thousands of people count for nothing. I wonder if they are aware that when the state of Oregon passed similar legislation, the cost of initiative campaigns tripled, putting initiatives out of reach of the citizenry and making them an option mainly for the wealthy and powerful.
And I am still waiting for them to present evidence that there is a problem.
Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, is lead Republican member on the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections Committee.
