Wyoming Constitutional Amendment B (2008)

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Constitutional Amendment B is a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment that appeared on the November 2008 ballot in Wyoming, where it was defeated.[1]

Election results

Although more votes were cast for Amendment B than against Amendment B, it lost, because in Wyoming, a ballot measure must be approved by a majority of those voting in the election as measured by total ballots cast in the election. Since 256,035 ballots were cast in this election, Measure B would have required 128,019 votes in order to be approved.

See also 2008 ballot measure election results

Wyoming Amendment B (2008)
Votes Percentage
Yes 120,333 54.2%
No Defeated 101,655 45.8%
Total votes 221,988 100%

Source: Wyoming Secretary of State

Background

The Wyoming signature requirements for initiatives were changed in 1998 after 77% of the state's voters approved Wyoming Term Limits Initiative (1996).[2]

Changes to the law in 1998 included:

  • A requirement that signature gatherers be registered voters who would be paid by the hour, rather than by the signature.
  • A requirement that signatures be counted by county, rather than statewide.

Previously, the distribution requirement in Wyoming required signatures from 15% of the qualified voters in 2/3rds of Wyoming's 23 counties. Due to this ballot measure, initiative supporters have to get signatures from 15% of the qualified voters in two-thirds of the state's thirty (30) state senate districts.[3] Since no initiative has qualified for the Wyoming ballot since 1996 due to the difficulty of its laws governing the initiative process, the constitutional amendment may have little practical impact.

Specific Provisions

Amendment B amended the Wyoming Constitution in a way that changes how the distribution requirement will work for Wyoming signature requirements on any initiatives in future years. Initiative supporters have to get signatures from 15% of the qualified voters in two-thirds of the state's thirty (30) state senate districts.[3]

Ballot Language

The wording of the ballot question said:

"The passage of this amendment would change the requirement for petition signatures for an initiative or referendum. Currently a petition must be signed by at least fifteen percent (15%) of the qualified voters in at least twothirds (2/3) of the counties, as determined by those who voted in the last general election. This amendment would change the requirement to at least fifteen percent (15%) of the qualified voters in at least two-thirds (2/3) of the senate districts, as determined by those who voted in the last general election."[4]

Supporters

Supporters include:

Arguments in Support

Argument made in support of the measure included:

  • There is concern that the current law is unconstitutional based on court decisions in other states throwing out county-based distribution requirements.
  • A distribution requirement that sets the distribution by state senate districts is likely to pass constitutional muster more readily than the county-based distribution requirement, due to population distribution.

Opponents

Opponents included:

Arguments in opposition

Arguments made in opposition to the measure included:

  • Under Amendment B, the percentage is based on the number of voters in a senate district who participate in a particular election. According to Robinson, "The disparity is the number of people who voted in the last election. The more you vote, the more signatures you need. It makes more sense to have everybody’s signature in the state count the same."[5]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ [Official election results
  2. ↑ Casper Journal: "Voters to decide two constitutional amendments," October 17, 2008
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Casper star-Tribune: "Ballot initiatives losing favor," May 25, 2008
  4. ↑ Full text of the initiative
  5. ↑ Wyoming Tribune Eagle, "Confused about the amendments?"
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