"You can't go to a supermarket or a farmer's market or any public space in San Francisco these days without running into people with clipboards asking you to sign petitions to put something on the local or statewide ballot. It's confusing: The titles of the measures can be misleading; the signature gatherers can say almost anything (and they get paid by the signature, so they have an incentive to sign you up). Sometimes, they have multiple petitions from various interests who might be opposed."
"For starters, almost every statewide ballot measure has at least one deep-pocketed sponsor. It takes between 550,000 and 850,000 valid signatures to get a measure on the statewide ballot, and even the most motivated volunteer-based groups can't gather that many in roughly six months. So if you see someone gathering signatures, you can assume someone is paying at least $1 million to get that measure on the ballot."
Petition gatherers are common in San Francisco public spaces and often use misleading titles and persuasive statements to obtain signatures. Many gatherers are paid by the signature, creating financial incentives to sign up as many people as possible. Statewide ballot measures require between 550,000 and 850,000 valid signatures, which typically necessitates substantial financial backing and spending of at least about $1 million. Under state law, petitions must list the "Official Top Funder," enabling voters to identify who is financing a measure. Asking signature gatherers who funds a petition can be an efficient way to judge whether to sign.
Read at 48 hills
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]