Far-right is twisting language on ballots to confuse and 'undermine the will of the voters': report

After the Supreme Court eliminated the rights outlined in Roe v. Wade and "left it up to the states" to decide regulations, citizens have gathered signatures to bring ballot measures allowing voters to decide what their state laws should be.

But the right-wing has responded by trying to twist the language on the ballot to intentionally "undermine" and confuse voters, reported "News From the States."

Ohio, where a recent ballot measure that tried to raise the threshold for future ballot initiatives to succeed was defeated, came under fire for using "deceptive" language. But it isn't the only state where ballot language is confusing, leading to lawsuits.

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"In recent weeks, officials in Missouri — where another abortion-rights measure is at issue — and Idaho also have been accused in lawsuits of seeking to thwart citizen initiatives they oppose by using biased and negative ballot language to describe the issue to voters," said the report.

"Arkansas last year saw a similar court fight after a state board rejected a proposed ballot measure that had gained the required number of signatures, claiming the ballot language didn’t explain the issue in enough detail."

Interest groups that support direct democracy think this is part of the larger war to remove ballot initiatives as an option for the citizenry.

States Newsroom has revealed that over the past several years, states have tried to crack down on laws that regulate ballot initiatives, adding extra requirements before it makes it to the ballot.

In recent years, a slew of states have imposed more onerous signature requirements or raised the threshold for voter approval above a simple majority, among other steps. It’s no coincidence that in all four of the states where controversies over ballot language have flared most prominently, Republican lawmakers have tried other tacks — so far unsuccessfully — to restrict ballot measures more broadly, the report said.

Even if the new language is thrown out by the court, the process has already added expense to those supporting the ballot measure, the report said. Some states can't issue ballots at all if there is pending litigation.

“This has been an escalating effort to attack ballot titles,” said Sarah Walker, director of legal and policy advocacy at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. “It’s just more of a long trajectory of efforts to undermine the will of the voters. And it shows how far politicians who are out of step with voters are willing to go to consolidate their power.”

Kevin Johnson, executive director of Election Reformers Network, explained to News From The States that a partisan secretary of state has the power to "completely distort public understanding of a ballot question."

In Missouri, for example, the Republican secretary of state, Jay Ashcroft, wrote the ballot measure asking voters if they want to protect “dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from contraception to live birth.” The title goes so far as to ask voters if they want to “nullify longstanding Missouri law protecting the right to life.”

The Missouri state legislature went further, trying to pass a Republican bill that requires 57 percent approval for a ballot initiative, instead of a simple majority. It hasn't passed, but they plan to try again next year.

Republicans tried the same thing in Ohio where the secretary of state described Issue 1 as a measure that would “elevate the standards” for constitutional amendments, News From The States reported.

Read more about the states and their tactics from News From The States.