Katherine R. Knobloch

Does the public want mini-publics? Voter responses to the Citizens’ Initiative Review

Deliberative democratic theory has proposed the use of mini-publics to discern a more reflective public opinion, which can then be conveyed to policymakers or back to the wider public. In 2009, the legislature in the State of Oregon (USA) created one such process in the Citizens’ Initiative Review to help the public make informed choices on statewide ballot measures. This study investigated how the public conceptualizes and assesses the Citizens’ Statements that Citizens’ Initiative Review panels place in the statewide Voters’ Pamphlet. We pose a series of research questions concerning how the public perceives the role of the Citizens’ Initiative Review in initiative elections. We investigate those questions with usability testing sessions held in the final weeks before the 2014 election. Forty interviews were conducted in Portland, Oregon, and 20 were held in Denver, CO, where a pilot version of the Citizens’ Initiative Review was held. Online survey data collected in Oregon and Colorado followed up on the themes that emerged from the usability tests to obtain more general findings about these electorates’ views of elections and the Citizens’ Initiative Review. Key results showed that voters found the Citizens’ Initiative Review Statements to be a useful alternative source of information, although they required more information about the Citizens’ Initiative Review to make robust trust judgments about the process. Voters were uncertain of the value of the vote tally provided by Citizens’ Initiative Review panelists, but reading the Citizens’ Initiative Review Statement inspired some to vote on ballot measures they might have skipped.

Assessing the Electoral Impact of the 2010 Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review:

The Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) distinguishes itself by linking a small deliberative body to the larger electoral process. Since 2010, CIR citizen panels have been a legislatively authorized part of Oregon general elections to promote a more informed electorate. The CIR gathers a representative cross-section of two dozen voters for 5 days of deliberation on a single ballot measure. The process culminates in the citizen panelists writing a Citizens’ Statement that the secretary of state inserts into the official Voters’ Pamphlet sent to each registered voter. This study analyzes the effect of one such Citizens’ Statement from the 2010 general election. In Study 1, an online survey experiment found that reading this Statement influenced Oregon voters’ values trade-offs, issue knowledge, and vote intentions. In Study 2, regression analysis of a cross-sectional phone survey found a parallel association between the Statement’s use and voting choices but yielded some mixed findings.