Allow citizen-led ballot initiatives in Texas

When Americans went to the polls on Nov. 8, many were forced to choose between the “lesser of two evils” when selecting a candidate. Making such a selection often means, “I voted for this person, but I disagree with them about one or more issues.”

During the midterm election, 54.3 percent of registered voters in Texas chose not to vote at all. Perhaps none of the candidates excited them, or maybe they were numb from the enormity of many competing critical issues. But for those who did vote, some 54 percent chose to give Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton four more years. Even so, this does not mean they agree with them on all issues.

What options do these voters — plus the 46 percent who did not vote for them — have to address consequential matters neglected by our Legislature?

Twenty-six states allow for citizen-led ballot initiatives or referendums, giving voters the opportunity to directly impel state laws and policies. Collect enough signatures and your issue is placed on the ballot for a vote — just not in Texas, one of 24 states where it’s not allowed. This is disenfranchising and must be changed.

Voting on a specific issue is more compelling than voting for a candidate. Consider what happened in Kansas this past August — 25 percent more votes were cast on an abortion amendment than for gubernatorial candidates. Specifically, 181,000 Kansans voted only on abortion and did not vote for a candidate for governor.

If a state legislature is unresponsive to the will of the people, the residents of that state should be able to bypass the legislature and place a proposed statute on the ballot. The National Conference on State Legislatures, an organization committed to improving the operations of state legislatures, explains citizen-led ballot initiatives as follows:

• Citizens file a proposed petition with the state, and it’s reviewed for statutory requirements and language.

• Petitions are circulated to obtain the required number of signatures of registered voters.

• If sufficient valid signatures are collected, the initiative goes on the ballot.

In fact, 132 different types of ballot measures, ranging from Medicaid expansion to the legalization of marijuana, were voted on during the 2022 midterm election. Recently, many states have demonstrated great success with vital citizen-led ballot initiatives. For example, Idaho — like Texas — refused to expand Medicaid following the Affordable Care Act’s passage. But that changed when the people of Idaho put it to a vote in 2018. Similarly, Florida successfully raised the minimum wage in 2020 with a ballot initiative. If Republicanled states like Idaho and Florida trust their residents enough to allow for ballot initiatives, why doesn’t Texas?

Regardless of which candidate they supported for Texas governor, two issues that unite many Texans are reasonable reproductive rights and commonsense gun legislation. Polling in Texas has found that up to 78 percent of respondents believe abortion should be available and 71 percent want to change the age to buy an assault weapon from 18 to 21. The people of Texas deserve to have their voice heard on critical issues through citizen-led ballot initiatives and hold the Legislature accountable.

Following his election victory, Abbott told the people of Texas, “I want to thank you for your trust. Just know this, we will go to work every single day to earn that trust.”

A good place to start would be trusting Texans enough to enable citizen-led ballot initiatives.