National: States Are Tightening Rules for Getting Citizen-Led Proposals on the Ballot | Emily Cochrane/The New York Times
After a wave of successful citizen-led efforts to expand abortion rights via ballot measures, some state legislatures are making it harder for members of the public to put such measures before voters. Florida, which late last week became the latest state to enact stricter rules around the process, is already facing a lawsuit over whether imposing more restrictions on the ballot initiative process is constitutional. The suit was brought by a group, Florida Decides Healthcare, that is trying to get a proposal on next year’s ballot to expand Medicaid in the state. The group, which faces a February deadline to collect nearly 900,000 signatures from residents supportive of the plan, said that the new law was making signature-gatherers nervous. Read Article