Citizen Democracy Project
P.O. Box 5008
Eugene OR 97405-0008
(541) 485-8446, fax: (541) 485-8446

For immediate release

For more information contact Marc Baber (marc@botworks.com) (541) 485-8446

CITIZEN DEMOCRACY PROJECT LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE WEBSITE 

FOR 2004 BALLOT MEASURE VOLUNTEERS

EUGENE, Ore. (Jan 6, 2004) -- Ask Marc Baber, director of the Citizen Democracy Project, what he thinks of American democracy and he's likely to repeat what Gandhi said about western civilization: "I think it would be a good idea." 

According to Baber, too many politicians are out of touch and no longer adequately represent the public's interests.  It may be the present campaign finance climate allows special interests to exert too much influence or it might be that few, except the wealthy, have time to pursue careers in politics.  Whatever the reason, Baber thinks it's time for ordinary citizens to become more directly involved in state government legislation using existing ballot measure initiative rights.

Baber applauds the foresight past generations showed when they enacted initiative statutes allowing citizens in over twenty states to pass legislation directly using ballot measures.  Unfortunately, collecting the necessary signatures to qualify a ballot measure can be onerous and expensive.  In Oregon, where the Citizen Democracy Project is based, about 120,000 valid signatures are required to put an initiative on the ballot.  In other states the number of signatures needed can be higher or lower, depending mostly on the number of registered voters in the state.

The new website (on-line at www.CitizenDemocracy.net) allows initiative campaign sponsors to save brief descriptions of their ballot measures in a database.  Volunteers can then log in and pledge to collect signatures for various initiatives in their state.  They can collect signatures for one or more initiatives and pledge different numbers of signatures for each initiative if they wish.  The website automatically notifies campaign organizers when to send petitions to volunteers.  It also reminds volunteers if a completed petition isn't received by its pledged date.  By facilitating the flow of petitions, much of the traditional work of campaign organizers is automated so more volunteers can be utilized.  Both volunteers and organizers can log in and check on the progress of any ballot measure-how many signatures have been pledged and how many have been received.  Being able to view progress online provides much more direct and engaging feedback than was previously possible without web-facilitated signature collecting.

If ten to twenty thousand Oregon volunteers signed up on the CitizenDemocracy.net website and each were willing to collect an average of a dozen signatures on each ballot measure they agree with, then almost any popular ballot measure could be put on the ballot with minimum effort and expense.  "The beautiful thing about volunteers collecting signatures," says Baber, "is that with volunteers, it becomes next to impossible to put unpopular initiatives on the ballot.  You've got to have a ballot measure that resonates with a lot of people before a critical mass of volunteers will step forward and contribute their own time to it."

Only time will tell if enough people will go online and volunteer to collect signatures, but recent successes of other on-line campaigns, such as those organized by MoveOn, ACLU and Planned Parenthood, suggest that on-line political campaigns can be highly effective. 

When asked if he believes the ominous phrase from the movie Field of Dreams ("If you build it, they will come.") applies to CitizenDemocracy.net, Baber smiles and recalls his experience as an early online fundraising writer for the Eugene Free Net in 1994.  "Who would have thought that EFN's user contributions would grow from three hundred dollars a month to thirty thousand in just a year and a half?  We realized quite suddenly that we could depend on a community of users to help us succeed.  In the summer, we were worried our server would overheat and fail so we asked EFN's users if anyone had a spare air conditioner.  Within hours, not one, but three were offered.  Since then, I try to never underestimate the potential of human beings linked together into a community by common dreams first, and secondarily by computers."

The project is currently working with at least two Oregon initiative campaigns and is seeking to work with campaigns in other states as well.

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