2010 ballot measure petition signature costs
From Ballotpedia
How much money did initiative sponsors spend per signature to qualify their initiatives in 2010? This article compares-and-contrasts signature-collection costs based on the CPRS, or Cost Per Required Signature.
When initiative sponsors collect and submit signatures, they aim to collect many more than the required minimum number of signatures. This is done in order to provide a sufficient cushion for those signatures that inevitably are disqualified. In most states, anywhere from 25-35% of submitted signatures are disqualified.
Some initiative sponsors collect a much larger cushion of extra signatures. If it were possible to know exactly how many signatures each initiative sponsor submitted in each state, it would be possible to calculate a "cost-per-actual-signature" figure for every 2010 initiative in every state, which would allow an apples-to-apples comparison. In some states, the figure of exactly how many signatures were submitted to election officials is made publicly available but in other states, that figure is not publicly available. This is especially true in states, such as California, where signatures are submitted to each of the state's 58 counties, rather than to one central election office.
This chart, therefore, compares signature-collection costs based on a figure that is publicly available, which is the legal minimum requirement of signatures in each state.
- Overview
- State overviews
- State by state
- Cost per signature rankings
- Petition management company breakdown
- Category breakdowns
Thousands of signatures are collected each year; some by volunteers and others by petition drive companies. In comparison to 2011, 2010 was abundant with initiatives. While millions of dollars (an estimated $379 million) were spent in 2010's ballot measure campaign efforts, first initiative supporters spent an estimated $36 million to qualify the initiative for the statewide ballot by circulating initiative petitions.
More than 600 initiatives were proposed in 2010, however, only 50 were voted on in November 2010.
- This chart shows an overview of the data collected. Included is which states had initiatives on the ballot in 2010. The table also shows how many initiatives paid over $2, $4, $6 and $8 per signature. Also included is the final average CPRS among all initiatives listed.
- Note: Dashes presented in the chart signify that no initiatives in that state hired a petition drive management company. A "0" in the chart shows that there were no initiative efforts in the state that spent above that CPRS..
QUICK STATISTICS:
- A total of $35,726,200.94 was spent on petition signatures
- 16 initiatives had a CPRS of above $2
- 7 initiatives had a CPRS of above $4
- 3 initiatives had a CPRS of above $6, while another 3 were above $8
- The state with the highest CPRS was Montana, with an average of $6.03 cost per required signature.
| State | Measures | Measures with CPRS above $2 | Above $4 | Above $6 | Above $8 | Average CPRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 2[1] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $1.59 |
| Arizona | 1[2] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $1.64 |
| California | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | $3.52 |
| Colorado | 6 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Florida | 3[3] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $1.74 |
| Maine | 2[4] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $0.14 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | 0[5] | 1 | 0 | 0 | $2.13 |
| Missouri | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $5.61 |
| Montana | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | $6.03 |
| North Dakota | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Oklahoma | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | $4.31 |
| Oregon[6] | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | $5.52 |
| South Dakota | 2 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Washington | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | $3.98 |
| TOTAL | 49 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 3 | $3.29 |
