Safeguarding the Petition in the Initiative and the Referendum

As Ohio's first experience with the statewide initiative and referendum drew attention of students of direct legislation from all parts of the country and led to carefully worked out legislation for safeguarding petitions, I shall confine my attention in this discussion to the operation of safeguards in that State. The initiative and referendum were established by constitutional amendment in 1912. The amendment provides that only electors of the State are entitled to sign petitions, that each person must sign for himself, and that each part petition must contain an affidavit of the canvasser, stating that each of the signatures on such part was made in the presence of the affiant, that to the best of his knowledge and belief each signature is a genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, that he believes the persons who have signed it to be electors, and that they signed the petition with knowledge of its contents. The legislature in its first session following the adoption of the amendment passed a law prohibiting the giving or receiving of money for signing petitions, and requiring the circulators of petitions to file with the secretary of state, after election, a detailed statement of receipts and expenditures, with names and addresses of contributors and of persons receiving pay for circulating petitions, with amounts contributed or received by each. Neither the constitution nor the statute established further practical means to facilitate the prevention or detection of fraudulent practices in making or soliciting signatures.