Big Money Pours into State Ballot Issue Campaigns

In Florida, the competing sides on just one November ballot question — about controlling solar power production in the state — already have raised $23.65 million to try to sway the state’s voters.  That amount pales in comparison to the $313 million raised so far to influence the outcomes of referendums in California, which routinely leads the nation in the number of issues on the ballot and money raised and spent on them. But it’s strikingly more than what’s been spent in the Sunshine State in the past. And what’s happening in Florida is happening across the country.  State ballot campaigns this year are attracting millions of dollars from corporations, unions, wealthy individuals and special interest groups, as referendums increasingly replace legislatures as a battleground for people who want to make state policy, on issues ranging from legalizing marijuana and raising the minimum wage to gun control and drug pricing, and from tobacco taxes to solar energy and education. So far this year, 165 statewide ballot measures, in 35 states, have been certified to go before voters. Of those, 74 were put on the ballot by citizens through signature petitions, rather than by state legislatures — the most since 2006.