Media Releases

This week, The New Yorker spotlighted how advocates for direct democracy, including the Fairness Project, are fighting back against to right-wing attacks on the ballot measure process in Ohio in advance of a proposed reproductive rights amendment this fall.

The resolution in Ohio is the latest in a string of attacks on the ballot measure process. Last year, legislators in South Dakota and Arkansas attempted to implement a 60% threshold but it was rejected by voters.

Ohio illustrates growing red-state trend of attacking direct democracy to undermine voter-led progress at the ballot box.

Republican legislators in several states could pass new attacks on the ballot initiative process as soon as next week, including Ohio and Missouri.

This week, the New York Times covered recent efforts by conservative politicians to crack down on citizen-initiated ballot measures in order to block pro-choice legislation from being passed directly by voters.

In the latest attack on direct democracy, Ohio legislators on Wednesday voted to advance a supermajority threshold for future ballot measures, co-opting a tactic being pushed by extremist officials in multiple states to limit voters’ decision-making power.

In the wake of several attacks on direct democracy by state lawmakers this year, several media outlets have highlighted the Fairness Project and its work to defend ballot measures from extremist attacks.

For the second straight legislative session, Mississippi state legislators have refused to restore the state’s ballot measure process — leaving voters without the right to put issues on the statewide ballot themselves.