WAVE OF BALLOT MEASURES THIS FALL VEERS LEFT

Fifty-three initiatives cover cockfights, class size, marijuana laws, and pigs.

Back in the 1990s, many high-profile citizen ballot initiatives across the
country had a Rush Limbaugh conservativism driving them: They aimed to cut
taxes, bust up affirmative action, impose term limits, allow school
vouchers, and toughen crime policy.

But this year's big initiatives suddenly have a Ralph Nader-like slant:
They would provide universal healthcare in Oregon, legalize marijuana in
Nevada, institute same-day voter registration in California and Colorado,
and even protect pregnant pigs in Florida.

Such is the ebb and flow of America's purest form of democratic governance.
This year, even initiatives themselves are getting fresh scrutiny - with
several measures aiming to limit their power and scope.

While some conservative initiatives are on this fall's ballots - such as
English-immersion plans for students in Massachusetts and Colorado - the
shift toward more liberal initiatives is dramatic. The most-common kinds of
measures aim to reform drug policy, education, elections, gambling, fiscal
policy, and to protect animals, according to the Initiative and Referendum
Institute. "The progressive issues have come to the surface," says Dane
Waters, president of the conservative Washington-based group.

The liberal shift

One reason for the shift: Republicans have steadily gained power in state
governments over the past decade, leaving Democrats and other liberals to
resort to ballot initiatives to pursue their agenda. In fact, in 19 of the
24 states that allow initiatives, Republicans control either the governor's
office or the legislature or both.

Another simple reason for the shift: Some of the conservative measures of
the 1990s have simply run their course. "You can't impose term limits over
and over again," observes Kristina Wilfore, head of the liberal Ballot
Initiative Strategy Center in Washington.

Also, after a decade of seeing conservative measures succeed at the ballot
box, liberals have geared up. "Progressives have been slow to come to the
table," says Ms. Kilgore. But in the past couple of years, she says,
they've realized that "love it or hate it, the initiative process isn't
going away - so let's use it for progressive interests." Her Ballot
Initiative Strategy Center, formed in 1998, is one sign of the new vigor.

Take drug policy. There's the high-profile bid in Nevada to legalize
possession of up to three ounces of marijuana. That measure, like many on
both ends of the political spectrum, is being pushed by a national group
aiming to turn the tide in its favor state by state.

There's also a bid in Arizona to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.
In Ohio, voters will decide whether to require drug treatment - rather than
incarceration - for nonviolent drug offenders.

In South Dakota, two initiatives would affect drug policy. One would
legalize the growing, selling, and buying of industrial hemp, a
marijuana-related plant used to make fabrics, clothes, and other items. The
other would enable criminal defendants to argue that the law they're being
tried under is bad public policy - and therefore that they shouldn't be
convicted. Drug-reform advocates support this plan - and envision this
argument being made about drug laws.

Gambling expansion efforts - typically opposed by conservative church
groups - include allowing a lottery in Tennessee and letting North Dakota
join a multistate lottery.

Animal-rights initiatives include the Florida plan to ban small crates for
pregnant sows used by pork producers. And if the polls are right,
Oklahomans will ban the traditional pastime of cockfighting - something the
legislature has refused to do for years. An Arkansas plan would boost
penalties for animal cruelty.

Election-reform efforts include California and Colorado measures to allow
voter registration on election day. This would bring more people to the
polls, which typically helps Democrats. Critics say it will create chaos.

This year's education initiatives are less ideologically clear-cut. Debates
are raging in Colorado and Massachusetts about phasing out bilingual
education in favor of English-immersion programs. California and Arizona
have already passed such measures.

Florida's voters will decide whether to mandate smaller class sizes - and
provide prekindergarten classes for every child in the state. A California
measure to expand after-school programs has gotten cash and cachet from
actor-cum-politico Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Initiatives on initiatives

Despite the wide variety of initiatives this year, there is evidence of a
drop off in government by the ballot box. This year's total of 53
initiatives represents a 30-percent drop from 2000 and the fewest since 1986.

Indeed, citizen-led campaigns are getting more costly and complicated than
ever - state legislatures, courts, and even citizen groups are getting
increasingly hostile to the strategy.

Nowhere is that more evident than in Oregon, where one measure would ban
clipboard-toting signature gatherers from being paid per signature. That
practice results in overzealous tactics, supporters say. But critics think
the measure would make the democratic process more costly.

Grass-roots groups have discovered that it is cheaper to prevent an idea
from getting onto the ballot - rather than waging a costly "vote no"
campaign. In Oregon, opponents torpedoed an antiunion measure, in part by
shadowing signature gatherers and encouraging citizens to "Think before you
ink" - to carefully weigh signing the petition.

In all, "the cost of conducting a signature campaign," says University of
Virginia initiatives expert Howard Ernst, "has never been higher."