Massachusetts Citizens' Initiative Review

"Are ballot questions really a form of pure direct democracy? Or are they a more complicated process?"

Thanks to Backyard Cambridge for talking to us about how the Citizens' Initiative Review can improve the ballot initiative process!

Listen here:

backyardmedia.us

WGBH News came to observe the 2018 CIR Pilot on Question 1. Listen to their coverage here:

Lawmakers Consider Including 'Citizens’ Statements' In The State’s Voter Guide Moneyed interests sometimes create very confusing ballot questions when they cannot convince the legislature to make new laws.

Hello MA! Early voting starts on Monday. Have you decided how you're going to vote on Question 1? If not, check out the Citizens' Statement!

The Citizens' Statement on Question 1 is finally here! Today, an independent panel of 20 Massachusetts voters finished writing a statement that includes information about Question 1 that the panel considered strong, reliable, and important for their fellow voters to know.

Democracy in action! Our citizen panelists are hard at work on drafting key claims for the Citizens' Statement.

The 2018 Massachusetts Citizens' Initiative Review is underway! Come observe at the Watertown Public Library or follow along with the live stream at healthydemocracy.org/MAcir.

2018 Massachusetts Citizens' Initiative Review Live stream of the 2018 Mass. CIR, considering Question 1: An Initiative Petition for a Law Relative to Patient Safety and Hospital Transparency.

We’re ready for our citizen panelists to arrive! Come and observe the 2nd MA Citizens’ Initiative Review at the Watertown Free Public Library, 10am tomorrow morning!

We’re less than one week away from the 2018 CIR on Question 1: Nurse Staffing Limits! On Wednesday, September 12th the citizen panelists will meet each other for the very first time at the Watertown Free Public Library. They’ll learn about the CIR, the ballot initiative process and hear from both Safe Patient Limits Save Lives and the Coalition to Protect Patient Safety.

On Thursday, panelists will get the opportunity to ask questions to both campaigns side by side and to 2 panels of independent experts.

On Friday, panelists will spend much of the day deliberating and drafting the Citizens’ Statement, which will include key facts they believe voters should know about the ballot question as well as the strongest and most reliable arguments for and against.

By the end of the day on Saturday, September 15th, the panelists will present their final Citizens’ Statement on Question 1, which will be widely distributed to voters across MA ahead of the Nov. 6th election.

See our full detailed schedule here:
https://www.cirmass.org/detailed-schedule

and our list of independent experts here:
https://www.cirmass.org/independent-experts

All four days are open to the public to come and observe. We hope to see you there!

Detailed Schedule

“Everyone I spoke with had concerns with the ballot question system. They all wanted to see reform, to try to reform the ballot initiative into a more representative and less easily manipulated system. They all felt that this required voters to have access to better and fairer sources of information.” Talking with Voters in Davis Square

https://bit.ly/2OKBZeO

Talking with Voters in Davis Square This post was written by Ian Clarke, the Tufts University fellow working on the Citizens’ Initiative Review project team this summer. As part of Ian's work, he'll be preparing a weekly blog exploring topics related to CIR and the initiative and referendum system in Massachusetts. June 10, 2016.

Want a glimpse of what a Citizens' Initiative Review looks like? Our partner Healthy Democracy is live streaming the 2018 Portland metro area CIR from August 23-26. Check out the link below!

Follow the Metro CIR on our livesteam at www.healthydemocracy.org/pdxcir

In exactly three weeks, our Massachusetts Citizen Panelists will gather to discuss Question 1 on nurse staffing limits! Event information can be found at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/events/258384741428223/.

"Many of us consider [the CIR] to be our most meaningful experience in politics. And for those of us who have struggled to keep faith in the political system, it helped to restore it."
- Joint Statement by the Citizen Panelists of 2016 (Massachusetts)

George Pillsbury, senior consultant for Nonprofit VOTE, believes the Massachusetts Citizens' Initiative Review provides a fair assessment of consequential ballot measures for voters.