Groups like the Fairness Project, which has backed the South Dakota and other Medicaid expansion ballot efforts, see the ballot initiative campaigns as a model for addressing reproductive law in other states, said the group’s executive director, Kelly Hall.
“In swing states and red states alike,” Hall says, “we have to assume that voters are coming to a ballot measure with a different frame of mind than any candidate choice, and keep open minds ourselves about who is on the table for a ballot measure.”
“From abortion and Medicaid expansion, to raising the minimum wage and enacting police accountability, there is enormous potential for progressive issues to win big in November regardless of which candidates prevail."
Contributions came from several progressive nonprofits: Notably $450,000 from the Fairness Project of Washington and $150,000 from Article IV, a New York nonprofit. The League of Women Voters of Arkansas contributed $21,105.
“The expanded use of ballot measures in recent years is a direct response to the increasing polarization of our political system,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a group that funds and organizes state ballot measure efforts across the country.
In response to the success of progressive ballot measures on issues like Medicaid expansion and minimum wage, several state legislatures have moved to make citizen-initiated ballot measures more difficult to pass.
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