This bill would allow South Carolinians to vote directly to enact laws and constitutional amendments. If a majority of voters were to vote in favor of a ballot initiative, the governor would not be able to veto it.
In order to start a ballot initiative, a group of at least five qualified voters would need to collect a number of petition signatures equal to 2 percent of voters in the last statewide general election, geographically distributed across at least two-thirds of the counties. In the case of an initiative that would involve a constitutional amendment, the petition signature threshold would be 10 percent.
We support this bill because: South Carolina is a far cry from a representative democracy. On issues including reproductive rights, drug enforcement, and gun regulation, the state legislature routinely passes laws that are dramatically out of step with public opinion. Ballot propositions would give the people of South Carolina a chance to see their preferred policies enacted.
