This week's question was, What was the average cost-per-required signature for statewide citizen initiatives in 2023?

You answered: $12.74
The correct answer is $9.38.

The average cost-per-required signature (CPRS) in 2023 was $9.38, higher than the 2013-2021 odd-year average of $8.13. The year with the highest CPRS for citizen initiatives between 2013 and 2023 was 2017, when the cost-per-required signature was $15.40. The year with the lowest CPRS was 2019, with $2.69.

Ballotpedia uses two methods to measure the cost of a citizen initiative petition drive:

• Total cost: the total money spent on gathering the required signatures to put an initiative on the ballot.
• Cost-per-required signature (CPRS): the total cost divided by the number of signatures required to qualify the measure for the ballot.

CPRS allows for comparisons of signature costs within and between states. If a campaign spends $1 million on its petition drive and the state’s signature requirement is 100,000, the CPRS is $10.00.

For comparison, in even years from 2012 to 2022, the average CPRS was $6.78. The even year with the highest CPRS in that time period was 2022, at $12.97, and the year with the lowest was 2014, at $3.22.

Most of the signature-gathering costs in 2023 were in Ohio, where proponents of Issue 1 and Issue 2 paid a combined $10.7 million to Advanced Micro Targeting to collect signatures.

Ohio Issue 1, an initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion, had the most expensive signature drive. A total of $6.65 million was spent to collect the 413,488 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $16.08.

Ohio Issue 2, a marijuana legalization initiative, had the highest CPRS at $16.28. A total of $4.1 million was spent collecting the 249,092 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $16.28.

Click here to learn more about ballot measure signature costs.

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