What’s the price of a signature?
Last night I made a late night run to the grocery store and was surprised to see a woman with a clipboard by the front entrance asking people coming in and out to sign some form of petition. It’s not uncommon to see this at Safeway; the entrance is a bottleneck for all traffic in and out and a favorite spot for pollsters and panhandlers alike. What was odd was that there would be someone collecting signatures at nearly midnight.
After scouring the aisles for the sale items so that I could have a decent meal with the six bucks I had in my pocket, I came out to find her still at it. Close up, she looked as though she might have been panhandling in the same spot if it were a different night. It wasn’t her missing teeth that gave me that impression. Instead it was the sad combination of her desperate body language and the dead look in her eyes.
«Will you sign a petition?» she asked.
I’m no longer in the habit of signing petitions. Especially here in California it’s too darn easy to collect the requisite signatures to get some boneheaded idea on the ballot. Yes, it’s democracy in action, but we’re not supposed to be a democracy. There is a complex system of checks and balances that, imperfect as it is, protects us not just from the tyranny of an elite, but also from the tyranny of the majority. Ballot initiatives are supposed to be another one of those checks and balances, not a primary form of getting legislation passed. Given that with enough money, you can pay people to stand in front of grocery stores until you get enough signatures, I think the whole system of ballot initiatives in California has been corrupted. I don’t even put my signature down for things I agree with.
I asked the woman if this were for a ballot initiative. She said that it was, so I apologized and began to move on. Then she asked, «are you a fan of Obama?»
Oh boy. There’s a question I can’t answer completely in one sentence. Am I a fan? Absolutely. Am I a supporter? No. But the woman with the clipboard instead of her front teeth had caught me off guard. She added, «I have Obama magnets.» It took me a moment for it to register: she was offering me an Obama campaign magnet for my refrigerator if I’d sign. I smiled and said, «thank you, no.» I started walking.
Then she dropped the bomb: «Please? They give me a buck fifty for each signature.»
I think it would have been insulting to explain that that was exactly the reason I was not signing. But it felt terrible to walk away knowing that this woman, obviously not a person of means, was working to put food on the table, and that my signature would cost me no money and gain her some. She was doing honest work for much-needed money.
But that is how crap initiatives get on the ballot: people sign because they don’t care, because they think it won’t hurt anything to get something on the ballot if they can vote against it later, to get these people with clipboards out of their hair. It’s a way for lobbying groups (whether grass-roots or corporate) to use money rather than popular support to promote whatever their agenda is.
If I’d had two dollars left in my pocket at that moment, I’d have given it to her. My endorsement for a piece of proposed legislation is not for sale. But last night, that decision hurt.
I agree, sort of.….
.…but I have a little different perspective. I’m on the board of directors for a local area meal site/Meals on Wheels program. This year I spent several hours (that’s all it took to get more than enough signatures!) collecting signatures to get an $5000 appropriations request on the town budget. Our budget is over $150,000, and although we get a small amount from the local Area Agency on Aging, most of our revenue comes from private fundraising. The local businesses are very generous and we have several other fundraisers each year, but I see nothing wrong in asking the people of the community we serve if they would like to kick in. I know that it would be better to go door-to-door asking for donations directly, but we just don’t have the time or the manpower. (BTW, every year our request is almost unanimously approved, which is extraordinarily rare in appropriations requests.) We perform an important mission, but raising money for it is a full time job for the board. Although I would rather do it entirely with private funding, the town budget request also gives us the opportunity to stand up in front of the town and make them aware of what we do.
The bottom line is: unless I can come up with a new way to raise the money before then, I’ll probably be out there with a clipboard again next year. I see it as benefiting the community similar to the way schools or police do. I’m libertarian enough to know it is not the perfect solution, but I am pragmatic enough that I can live eith it.
Dad
Democracy inaction
Hey, I’m not universally opposed to collecting signatures. What I have trouble with is the idea of paid workers collecting signatures to get initiatives on a ballot before voters. In California, if you get 500,000 signatures from registered voters (800,00 if you want to amend the State Constitution) you can put any old thing in front of the voters for an up or down vote (those numbers are based on the number of voters from the previous election.)
If you want a chance at getting something passed into law in San Francisco (say, to ban handgun ownership, name a sewage plant for the President of the United States, or ban circumcision of children) all you need are 9500 signatures. That’s a long way from getting appropriations for Meals on Wheels on your town budget.
I appreciate that citizens should have the opportunity to participate directly in government. Vermont’s town meetings should be a beacon for the rest of the country. But in California, things are out of hand. It’s not that I don’t like democracy, but I’m a bigger fan of checks and balances. It also seems distasteful for workers who don’t even believe in the proposed legislation and who are paid by the signature to get things on the ballot by telling people that it doesn’t matter, that their signature just gets the matter on the ballot and so there’s no harm.
People will sign anything.
I Am In Favor of a Constitutional Republic
I don’t like people getting paid per signature. Period. Sounds … bad.
Good distinction
Actually two good distinctions there: first that the ideal form of government is not democracy but a constitutional republic with democratic oversight. Or maybe «with democratic oversight» is built in to the word «republic» and my addition is redundant. In any case, the Framers were well aware of the dangers of democracy — otherwise we’d have one and things would be very very different today.
But the distinction I meant when I wrote the subject of this reply is «per signature». I don’t fundamentally object to the idea that people who collect signatures are working, are worthy of their hire, and can be paid for their time. Being paid per signature crosses a line.
I can’t say I have a solution. Surely outlawing commission-based compensation for people collecting signatures would have First Amendment issues even if it were practically enforceable. And there’s no way it could be enforceable. Signature collection companies could set up multiple job titles with varied levels of hourly pay, and «promote» or «demote» employees every day (or even every hour!) based on their performance. If I can come up with a way around such a law off the top of my head, there’s no way the law would be enforceable.
My next thought would be to require that signature collection only be valid if it is conducted in a town or city’s municipal offices and that citizens would have to go on-site in order to sign a petition. But that seems like it would have equal protection problems, as people living near City Hall would have easier influence over the government than people living farther away.
So for now my only solution is just to refuse to sign any petitions for ballot initiatives, even if I agree with them.