Costly measures:

Stiff competition to get initiatives on the ballot is driving up the price.

SACRAMENTO — Democracy has a price. And at the moment, it’s higher than ever in California.

With a presidential election coming up this fall, dozens of groups are trying to get measures on the ballot — asking voters to sanction recreational marijuana, stiffen gun controls, increase cigarette taxes and pass numerous other laws.

The competition among them has created an unprecedented situation in California that’s driving up the cost of gathering the signatures necessary to get on the ballot.

Some campaigns are paying double the rate of a typical year. It means that more than ever, access to the ballot is reserved for those with the most money.

“I fully anticipate the prices will go higher and higher, and it will definitely have an impact,” said Bill Carrick, a political consultant who recently stopped gathering signatures for a measure that sought to raise commercial property taxes to pay for services for the poor.

“The ballot measures backed by large groups with access to financial resources, they will continue to pay high prices,” Carrick said. “But the more grassroots people are not going to have a chance at all.”

It’s another sign that California’s system of direct democracy has evolved far from its populist roots. When the state adopted the system more than 100 years ago, the goal was to empower citizens to make laws themselves and circumvent the powerful interests that held sway over the Legislature. Instead, ballot initiatives today are so expensive they are primarily used by the same interests they were meant to avoid.

In past years, it would have