Ballot measure signature costs, 2017
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This Ballotpedia report is an in-depth look at the total signature gathering costs and the cost-per-required-signature for measures that qualified for state ballots in 2017.
Measuring the cost
This report uses two ways to measure the cost of an initiative or veto referendum petition drive.
- According to the total cost of gathering the required signatures to put the initiative or veto referendum on the ballot
- According to the total cost divided by the number of signatures required to qualify the measure for the ballot or Cost Per Required Signature (CPRS)
The total cost depends on all of the factors that can make a petition effort more or less expensive, including the population of the state and the state's signature requirements. This measurement does not necessarily indicate how difficult it is to run a signature petition campaign in a state relative to other states or how hard and expensive it is to collect a given valid signature. It takes into consideration the population and signature requirements for a state. For example, the average total cost of a successful initiative petition drive in California in 2016 was just over $2.9 million, while in Oklahoma the average total cost was about $870,000. Initiatives in California, however, require over four times as many signatures and affect 10 times as many people.
Cost Per Required Signature (CPRS):
The cost per required signature cuts out the variable of a state's signature requirements and shows the cost for each signature needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. This second measurement is a better indication of how difficult it is to run a signature petition campaign in a given state relative to other states. For example, the average CPRS in California in 2016 was $6.20 while the average CPRS in Oklahoma was $9.59, but the average total petition cost was $2.9 million in California and about $870,000 in Oklahoma.
From the perspective of a national organization or proponents of a national agenda, this means that a lower CPRS generally means that a campaign could potentially affect more people and achieve more political influence per dollar spent, while the total petition cost might dictate in which states the campaign could actually afford to launch a successful petition drive.
Signature costs by state
Maine
- See also: Maine 2017 ballot measures
| Ballot Measure | Topic | Petition Companies | Cost | Signatures | CPRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine Question 1, Casino or Slot Machines in York County Initiative (2017) | Gambling policy | Olympic Consulting, Silver Bullet Group Inc, Labor Ready, Encore Political Services, J.E.F. Associates | $2,687,826.38 | 61,123 | $43.97 |
| Maine Question 2, Medicaid Expansion Initiative (2017) | Public assistance programs | Maine Center for Economic Policy | $965.74 | 61,123 | $0.02 |
Ohio
- See also: Ohio 2017 ballot measures
| Ballot Measure | Topic | Petition Companies | Cost | Signatures | CPRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine Question 1, Casino or Slot Machines in York County Initiative (2017) | Gambling policy | Olympic Consulting, Silver Bullet Group Inc, Labor Ready, Encore Political Services, J.E.F. Associates | $2,687,826.38 | 61,123 | $43.97 |
| Maine Question 2, Medicaid Expansion Initiative (2017) | Public assistance programs | Maine Center for Economic Policy | $965.74 | 61,123 | $0.02 |
Comparison to previous year
- See also: Ballot measure signature costs, 2015
Though there were 28 total measures on statewide ballots in 2015, only five measures in four states—Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, and Washington—were initiatives that required signatures to be collected to be put on the ballot.
Of the five measures, Ohio's Issue 3 had the highest CPRS at $8.13, while Maine's Question 1 and Mississippi's Initiative 42 both had the lowest CPRS at $0 because the campaigns enlisted volunteers to collect signatures instead of hiring a company. The average CPRS for the 2015 measures was $6.49.
See also
Other petition cost reports
- 2012 ballot measure petition signature costs
- 2013 ballot measure petition signature costs
- 2014 ballot measure petition signature costs
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2015
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2016
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2018
- Ballot measures cost per required signatures analysis
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2019
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2020
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2021
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2022
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2023
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2024
- User:Jackie Mitchell/CPRS 2024
- User:Alexis Thacker/sandbox3
- Ballot measure signature costs, 2025
Footnotes
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