Gotta love how Republican legislators put, ah, regulations in your way – at least in South Dakota. This is from last year, but I can’t resist:
In the lingo of South Dakota petition circulators, it’s called the “beach-towel effect.”
The term describes the massive, folded-up sheets of paper that petition circulators carry as they gather signatures to put a proposed law on the ballot.
The Secretary of State’s Office says the full text of a petition and its signature lines must be contained on a single sheet of paper. For complex proposals, those single sheets of paper may grow to several feet wide and tall.
Now those sheets of paper might get even bigger. This winter, South Dakota’s Legislature passed a bill requiring the font size on petitions to be at least 14 points.
Republican Sen. Al Novstrup, of Aberdeen, said the font on medical marijuana petitions last year was too small. He estimated it was 6 points.
“I was just unable to read it,” Novstrup testified, “and I would estimate that approximately half of South Dakotans were unable to read that particular font size.” [South Dakota Public Broadcasting]
So bloody well authorize multiple pages, Senator Novstrup! But seriously, you need to follow that link, above, to see what a petition looks like, as it’s carried around to citizens to sign.
This’ll slow down those damn citizens and their citizen legislating, now won’t it?
