A Nationwide Escalation of Attacks on the Ballot Measure Process
Direct democracy is facing one of the most significant and coordinated assaults in modern history, reflecting a broader pattern of democratic backsliding that aligns closely with rising authoritarianism nationwide. A March 2026 report from BISC maps the national landscape of attacks on the ballot measure process, situates those attacks within an authoritarian framework, and examines how democratic erosion is unfolding in practice.
While the specific tactics vary by state, BISC’s analysis found that the attacks fall into several recurring and interconnected categories:
- Signature Collection Restrictions
- Supermajority Requirements and the Expansion of Minority Rule
- Increased Scrutiny of Ballot Content and Judicial Capture
- Administrative and Executive Interference
- Post-Election Sabotage and Legislative Override
Crucially, these efforts are rarely presented as anti-democratic. Instead they are framed using the language of election integrity, administrative efficiency, or voter protection — masking the real-world impact: suppressing participation, raising costs, increasing legal risk, and deterring grassroots organizing.
Ballot 2026: Attacks on Direct Democracy
2024 saw a wave of progressive, community-driven measures, but the emerging 2026 landscape demonstrates how legislatively-referred measures are being weaponized to advance authoritarian agendas — including attacks on direct democracy.
In the August 4 primary election, Missouri voters protected the voices of voters across the state and secured a landmark victory for the People’s Tool nationwide by rejecting Amendment 4 — a legislatively-referred measure that would have raised the threshold for citizen-led initiatives to pass in Missouri — effectively ending majority rule by requiring proposals to receive a majority in all eight districts.
As of August 5, three other states will decide legislatively-referred measures requiring supermajority thresholds:
- North Dakota: 60% supermajority for constitutional amendments
- South Dakota: 60% supermajority for constitutional amendments
- Utah: 60% supermajority for citizen-led initiatives making tax-related changes
Direct Democracy & Competitive Authoritarianism
BISC is tracking the rise of competitive authoritarianism across the country, where those in power don’t cancel democracy outright — instead, they manage it. Voters are still allowed to engage, but only up to the point where they don’t threaten entrenched power.
That framework is essential for understanding why extremist lawmakers are attempting to hollow out the People’s Tool by manipulating rules and weaponizing procedures. Ballot measures are about the people having the power to create meaningful change, and this coordinated assault on citizen-led ballot initiatives is a visible symptom of growing authoritarianism. In fact, BISC’s November 2025 research revealed that efforts to restrict ballot initiatives are widely interpreted by voters as a symptom of rising authoritarianism. Defending direct democracy is not just about preserving the ballot initiative process, it’s about resisting a future where American democracy is replaced by authoritarianism.
State of Legislative Attacks on the Ballot Measure Process
As of July 31, BISC is monitoring 209 bills related to direct democracy filed in legislatures across the country.
In 2025, lawmakers introduced or passed more than 150 bills that restrict the ballot measure process by tightening signature requirements, shortening campaign timelines, imposing confusing legal standards, and more.
Why Are These Attacks Happening?
In 2015, BISC began implementing a proactive, long-term strategy co-created with state leaders and grassroots organizers to achieve progressive policy wins and build lasting, equitable power on the ground through ballot initiatives. Since then, voters across the country have used the People’s Tool to enact bold solutions and improve the material conditions of their lives with ballot measures for increased wages and improved working conditions, expanded Medicaid access, restored reproductive rights, the freedom to marry, and so much more.
But extremists and special interests have learned that they can’t win fairly, so they’re trying to change the rules of the game. They want to undermine the Will of the People and slow progress by weaving a web of technicalities that make it harder for voters to engage in direct democracy. Attacking the ballot initiative system is part of a larger movement by extremist politicians and corporate interest groups to dismantle democracy by undermining our elections, overruling the Will of the People, and moving us further toward minority rule.
We are at a defining and dangerous moment not just for direct democracy, but for every aspect of American democracy. Through it all, BISC remains committed to protecting, strengthening, and expanding the People’s Tool to improve material conditions for communities and build a multiracial, people-powered democracy that works for all of us.