Ballot measure signature costs, 2023

2023 U.S. state ballot measures
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Ballotpedia's cost-per-required-signature (CPRS) report analyzes the signature-gathering costs of ballot initiative campaigns. In 2023, seven citizen-initiated measures were on the ballot—one on March 7, and six on November 7.

Proponents of these initiatives conducted initiative petition signature drives, and the initiatives qualified to appear on the state's statewide ballot. Requirements differ from state to state, such as the number of signatures required, circulation period length, and other requirements.

CPRS is calculated as a campaign's total spending on signature gathering relative to the number of valid signatures required. You can read more about how we measure signature gathering costs below.

Campaigns for these seven citizen-initiated measures on the ballot in 2023 spent a combined $12.95 million on signature gathering. The average petition drive cost was $1.85 million, and the average CPRS was $9.38.

HIGHLIGHTS

$12.95 million was spent on signature drives for seven certified ballot initiatives in 2023.

$1.85 million was the average petition drive cost in 2023.

$9.38 was the average CPRS for 2023.

Ohio Issue 1, an initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion, was the measure with the most expensive signature drive at $6.65 million.

Ohio Issue 2, a marijuana legalization initiative, was the measure with the highest CPRS at $16.28.

Measuring initiative petition signature drive costs

See also: Ballot measures cost per required signatures analysis

Campaigns spend funds to collect signatures. Campaigns hire signature-gathering companies, utilize unpaid volunteers, or use a mix of both. States have different ballot measure signature requirements and different population sizes, resulting in varied signature drive costs across states.

This report uses two ways to measure the cost of an initiative or veto referendum petition drive:

1. According to the total cost of gathering the required signatures to put an initiative on the ballot
2. According to the total cost divided by the number of signatures required to qualify the measure for the ballot or cost per required signature (CPRS)

The cost per required signature (CPRS) measures the costs based on the number of signatures required. CPRS allows us to compare the signature costs to get an initiative on the ballot within a state and between states. If a campaign spends $1 million on its petition drive and the state's signature requirement is 100,000, the CPRS is $10.00. In other words, the campaign spent $10.00 per required signature to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

Analysis, averages, and highlights

Total costs and averages

• For elections in 2023, seven initiatives were certified for the ballot in three states. In total, $12,953,417.17 was spent to collect signatures for these initiatives. Cumulatively, the campaigns needed to collect 1,028,219 valid signatures.

• The average total petition cost for 2023 was $1,850,488.17.

• The average cost per required signature in 2023 was $9.38.

• During odd-numbered years from 2013 to 2023, an average of 4 initiatives appeared on the ballot. The average number of states with initiatives on the ballot in odd years was between two and three.

• Ohio Issue 1, an initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion, was the measure with the most expensive signature drive at $6.65 million. Sponsors of Issue 1 hired Advanced Micro Targeting to collect signatures for the petition to qualify the measure for the ballot. A total of $6,650,000.00 was spent to collect the 413,488 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $16.08.

• Ohio Issue 2, a marijuana legalization initiative, was the measure with the highest CPRS at $16.28. Sponsors of Issue 2 hired Advanced Micro Targeting to collect signatures for the petition to qualify the measure for the ballot. A total of $4,056,250.00 was spent to collect the 249,092 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $16.28.

Signature drive costs in 2023

State	Number of initiatives	Cumulative cost	Average cost per drive	Average CPRS
Maine	4	$2,171,826.17	$542,956.54	$8.13
Ohio	2	$10,706,250.00	$5,353,125.00	$16.18
Oklahoma	1	$75,341.00	$75,341.00	$0.79

Signature costs by state

The tables below shows the number of required signatures, total petition drive cost, petition companies, and CPRS for each initiative in a given state.

Maine

See also: Maine 2023 ballot measures

Ballot Measure	Topic	Petition Companies	Cost	Signatures	CPRS
Maine Question 1, Voter Approval of Borrowing Above $1 Billion by State Entities and Electric Cooperatives Initiative (2023)	Energy	Second Street Associates	$905,000.00	67,682	$13.37
Maine Question 2, Prohibit Foreign Spending in Elections Initiative (2023)	Campaign finance	Ballot Access Management	$254,388.02	63,067	$4.03
Maine Question 3, Pine Tree Power Company Initiative (2023)	Energy	Ballot Access Management	$137,826.15	63,067	$2.19
Maine Question 4, "Right to Repair Law" Vehicle Data Access Requirement Initiative (2023)	Business regulation	JEF Associates	$874,612.00	67,682	$12.92

Ohio

See also: Ohio 2023 ballot measures

Ballot Measure	Topic	Petition Companies	Cost	Signatures	CPRS
Ohio Issue 1, Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative (2023)	Abortion policy	Advanced Micro Targeting	$6,650,000.00	413,488	$16.08
Ohio Issue 2, Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2023)	Marijuana	Advanced Micro Targeting	$4,056,250.00	249,092	$16.28

Oklahoma

See also: Oklahoma 2023 ballot measures

Ballot Measure	Topic	Petition Companies	Cost	Signatures	CPRS
Oklahoma State Question 820, Marijuana Legalization Initiative (March 2023)	Marijuana	Oklahoma Strong Consulting	$75,341.00	94,911	$0.79

Comparison of signature gathering costs in odd-numbered years

By total cost

The chart below shows the number of initiatives, the number of states featuring initiatives, the total cost of signature drives for the year, and the average total cost of a signature drive in each year.

During odd-numbered years from 2013 to 2023, an average of 4 initiatives appeared on the ballot. The average number of states with initiatives on the ballot in odd years was between two and three. The average total cost of signature gathering each year was about $5.5 million and the average cost per signature drive was about $1.18 million. The average CPRS across odd years from 2013 to 2023 was $8.34.

Year	# of initiatives	# of states with initiatives on the ballot	Cumulative cost	Average signature drive cost	Average CPRS
2023	7	3	$12,953,417.17	$1,850,488.17	$9.38
2021	4	2	$5,378,261.60	$1,344,565.40	$14.74
2019	2	1	$1,397,177.88	$698,588.94	$2.69
2017	4	2	$6,855,998.82	$1,713,999.71	$15.40
2015	5	4	$4,874,720.41	$974,944.08	$3.57
2013	3	2	$1,492,247.00	$497,415.67	$4.24
AVERAGES	4	2	$5,491,970.48	$1,180,000.33	$8.34