Voters across the country are taking direct action to protect rights from voting to reproduction. They’re using citizen initiative (CI), collecting signatures to put a law or amendment right on the ballot. NC voters can’t do that: It’s not permitted by the state constitution. 

Following last year’s LWVNC convention, the state board authorized a statewide study to consider a new position on CI, enabling LWVNC League members to advocate adding it to our constitution.

Over the past year, a team of League members from across the state has done just that. After studying League positions from across the country, examining pros and cons, and hearing from experts, the team is very close to recommending a way forward for membership consideration.

Join the team to learn more about their work and weigh in on the proposal that will be brought forward later this year. Write to ereckhow [at] gmail.com (Ellen Reckhow) to be connected with the team.

Sanford School Student Report on CI Process for NC 
For more information, view the recording of the May 2024 Citizen Initiative Study Team briefing – Sanford School of Government Professor Asher Hildebrand spoke during this Zoom. During the November 2024 Zoom, Dr. Justin Phillips, associate professor in the political science department at Columbia University, discussed Citizen Initiative and its role in promoting direct democracy. During a December 2024 Zoom, Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins spoke. She served two terms as LWVUS President, is an adjunct professor at UNC Chapel Hill, and helped review Citizen Initiative ballot proposals for the LWV in Colorado when she lived there. Here are slides from the December 2024 session.