Welcome to the Monday, Sept. 21, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. 2020 ballot measure signature petition costs reach highest in a decade
2. Voters in five states to decide electoral system ballot measures in November
3. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies

2020 ballot measure signature petition costs reach highest in a decade

Unless courts remove more measures, the Nov. 3 ballot measures are finalized. This year ballot initiative and veto referendum sponsors had to spend an average of $2.1 million to qualify a measure for the ballot—over twice the average since at least 2010. From 2010 to 2018, the average cost per signature was $4.70. In 2020, the number was $8.09 - an increase of 72%.

Twenty-six states have a process for statewide citizen-initiated measures requiring anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of signatures to qualify for the ballot, depending on the state. Generally, campaigns hire companies to collect signatures.

A total of 43 citizen-initiated measures (39 ballot initiatives and four veto referendums) were certified for 2020 ballots in 16 states. Three were on the ballot for pre-November elections, and 40 are on the Nov. 3 ballot. Sponsors used volunteer signature drives for three of the 43 measures. Paid signature gatherers were hired for the remaining 40.

Initiative sponsors spent $85.82 million to collect the 11,000,395 valid signatures required to qualify the 41 measures with signature cost data available for the ballot. Data was not available for two measures—one in Mississippi and one in Oklahoma.

By comparison, about $76.6 million was spent on the 68 citizen-initiated measures in 2018, and about $78.12 million was spent on those in 2016.

Here are some other highlights from our report:

• It cost an average of $2.1 million to qualify a measure for the 2020 ballot. This was nearly double the average in 2018 ($1.2 million) and more than double the average from 2010 through 2018 ($871,468).
• It cost an average of $8.29 per valid signature for successful petition drives in 2020. This was 27% higher than the average in 2018 ($6.52) and nearly double the average from 2010 through 2018 ($4.7).
• The total cost of successful paid signature petition drives ranged from $108,358 for a pre-November veto referendum in Maine to $8.8 million for Florida Amendment 4.
• The cost per required signature (CPRS) for successful paid signature petition drives ranged from $1.30 for Missouri Amendment 2, a pre-November Medicaid expansion initiative, to $24.20 for Montana CI-118, a marijuana initiative.
• The states with the highest average total cost for initiative petitions in 2020 were Florida ($6.75 million), California ($4.36 million), and Arizona ($2.7 million).
• The states with the lowest total cost for initiative petition signature gathering were Washington, where sponsors of Referendum 90 used volunteers to collect 129,811 signatures, resulting in a CPRS of $0; Maine ($108,358); and Alaska ($199,792).
• The states with the highest average CPRS for initiatives that were on the ballot were Montana ($24.02), South Dakota ($16.22), and Nevada ($12.46).
• In 2020, 12 states with citizen-initiated measures had higher average total petition costs and higher average CPRS than averages from 2010 through 2018.
• California and Florida represented over two-thirds of the petition drive spending in 2020. In those states, average petition costs were up 52% and 130%, respectively.

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Voters in five states to decide electoral system ballot measures in November

How elections are administered has been a major focus this election cycle - and it will be a steady topic from now through the cycle. But in addition to the short-term impact of the 2020 election, some states are considering ballot measures that would make long-term system changes. Voters in five states will decide ballot measures related to electoral systems on Nov. 3. Policies on the ballot include ranked-choice voting, top-two and top-four primaries, the national popular vote interstate compact, and runoff elections. Four of the five are citizen initiatives.

• In Colorado, Proposition 113 asks voters whether to uphold or repeal legislation to add the state to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). The NPVIC was designed to give the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote. It would take effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes join the NPVIC. Currently, 14 states and Washington, D.C., (representing 187 electors in the Electoral College) have adopted legislation to join the compact.
• In Alaska and Massachusetts, voters will decide ranked-choice voting ballot initiatives. 
  • Alaska Ballot Measure 2 would use ranked-choice voting for general elections but not primaries. Instead, Ballot Measure 2 would adopt top-four primaries in which all candidates run on the same ballot regardless of partisan affiliation, and the four who receive the most votes move on to the general election. 
  • Massachusetts Question 2 would enact ranked-choice voting for federal, state, and some local primaries and general elections. 
  • Massachusetts and Alaska could be the second and third states to adopt ranked-choice voting for at least some statewide elections. In 2016, Maine became the first state to enact a state system of ranked-choice voting after voters approved a ballot measure. 
• Florida Amendment 3 would replace the state’s closed primaries with top-two open primaries for elected state offices. The state would join California and Washington in using top-two open primaries.
• Mississippi voters will decide a legislative referral to change how the governor and state officials are elected. 
  • Currently, the Mississippi Constitution requires that gubernatorial and state official candidates receive the most votes statewide and the most votes in a majority of the 122 state House districts to win the election. If no candidates win a majority of the state House districts, state representatives decide the election. 
  • The ballot measure would repeal the majority-of-House-districts requirement and, instead, require candidates to win a majority of the vote. If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, then a runoff election would be held between the top two candidates under the measure.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies

United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday, Sept. 18, at the age of 87. Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton (D) and confirmed to the court in 1993. She was the second woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court.

Ginsburg served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1980 to 1993. She began her legal career in academia, teaching at Rutgers University Law School and Columbia Law School, in addition to directing the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The average vacancy length on the Supreme Court since 1962—when defined as the length of time elapsed between a justice’s departure date and the swearing-in of their successor—is 88 days. As a presidential candidate and as President, Donald Trump (R) released lists of potential Supreme Court nominees in 2016, 2017, and 2020. Click here for more details.

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