There has been almost no public discussion or controversy around Question 2 on the Nov. 7 ballot even though it affects the way some of the most contentious issues are presented to the voters.
Question 2 changes the rules on how long the wording on a citizen initiative petition is valid and tightens up the deadlines for when petitions must be submitted to city and town clerks for signature verification. A constitutional amendment, the question was put on the ballot by a vote of the Legislature this past session.
Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn, in charge of the elections division, said the proposed amendment gives circulators more flexibility on the how long they have to get their petition drive up and running, but requires them to be on time when submitting signatures to clerks. Existing law says petitioners have one year – once the language on their petition is approved by the state – to circulate a petition and submit it to the Secretary of State.
The proposed amendment says the petition language is good for 18 months, even though the signatures can be no more than a year old, as is now required.
“What this does is give more flexibility to the circulators,” Flynn said. “Sometimes their efforts don’t start very strong.”
The 18-month window gives them time to get organized before the one-year deadline on the age of the signatures starts to tick. It also clarifies the deadline for circulators because there were essentially two before – one in the constitution and one in law – that were out of sync.
That apparent contradiction was tested by the supporters of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The courts ruled in their favor, saying they had met the constitutional deadline even if they were late on the statutory one.
If Question 2 passes, the 18-month rule will be part of the constitution along with the existing constitutional requirement that petitions must be submitted no later than the 50th day after the Legislature convenes for its first year in the two-year sessio,n and the 25th day in its second year.
Equally important in Question 2, at least to the town and city clerks, is the ironclad deadline for signature verifications. Clerks often get inundated with requests from petition circulators to verify that signers are registered voters.
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