STATE CAPITOLS
ASPECTS OF THE AMENDMENT STRATEGY
Qualifying for State Ballots in Initiative States
When State Legislatures refuse to make a Call on Congress to
convene a “SINGLE ISSUE” Federal Convention, CITIZEN INITIATIVES plans to
place the Legislative Call on the State ballot. Assuming a specific
Legislative Call is approved by the State electorate, then the legislators
will be forced to complete the Call on Congress.
CITIZEN INITIATIVES believes Legislative Calls for proposed
Amendments should qualify for the ballot in
21 of 24 Initiative
States.
If all 19 proposed Amendments qualified for the ballot in a given State, then
there would be 19 separate initiatives that we would have to qualify for at
the ballot. Only 21 of the 24 Initiative States allow for Director IndirectStatute Initiatives. By placing the
Legislative Call on the ballot in non-Presidential years the victory margin in
some States, as was mentioned earlier, could be as low as 9% or registered
voters.
We believe that we can win in at least 18 of the 21 Initiative
States for most of our proposed Amendments. Of course, some of the 24
Initiative States will not require ballot Initiatives because State
Legislators will make their Calls on Congress voluntarily. In Legislative
States, we expect at least 16 Legislatures will make the
Call. We will be instructing legislators about the facts regarding each
proposed Amendment with special emphasis on the opportunity the States have
for reclaiming their States Rights in selected “SINGLE ISSUE” Federal
Conventions.
There are important advantages for us once aggressive State
campaigns begin:
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State Legislators will begin to understand that “SINGLE
ISSUE” Federal Conventions are safe and empower them to become the final
arbitrator for selected Constitutional issues.
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Advertising and publicity campaigns
from petition drives and ballot initiatives will greatly help in our efforts
to change perceptions for many Americans
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State Legislatorsin InitiativeStates will
not be able to reject ballot results that instruct them to Call on Congressdirecting Congress
to convene a “SINGLE ISSUE” Federal Convention.
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As a result of the
activity and victories in some States, State Legislators from
other States
will be more attentive to our lobbying and “Redress of
Grievances” petitions
directing them to make a Call on Congress.
-
In Legislative States that
refuse to make a Call voluntarily they will be directed to placethe Legislative Call on the next general
election ballot for the voters to decide.
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Congress will
be more attentive to our Congressional “Redress of Grievances”petitions directing them to send the
proposed Amendment to State Legislaturesfor ratification. As we get closer to 34
States completing their Calls, Congress will want to avoid convening a
Convention and likely send the Amendment to the States for ratification
voluntarily;
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The United States Supreme
Court
will be listening to our national campaigns and may be more
agreeable to read-dressing some of its flawed decisions in past cases. As
our court battles and potential Class Action law suits move forward, the
Court may be nudged to revisit some of their flawed analysis in matters such
as Roe vs. Wade. However, even if the Court reverses itself, it will still
be necessary to amend the Constitution thus preventing the Court from
revisiting the same issue in the future.
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On some proposed
Amendments the President may be willing to use his influence in Congress and
State Legislatures.