that he spins within people. he does it intentionally. sometimes he doesn't know he is doing it. but that it happens is influencing every aspect of american life. politics,conomics, and in ways that you detect it, in ways journalists interact with this story. glad to haveays read wilson at our desk. he joins us to talk about the 150 or more ballot measures. cross 38 states will decide on this november. explain what ballot measures are and what is the difference between a proposition, ballot question, are these all the same? guest: there are minor differences. most states have direct democracy where voters can put a petition on the ballot and we vote and decide for ourselves, rather than leaving it up to the state legislatures.

listed allow the state legislatures also to put a ballot -- an issue on the ballot, so you will see sometimes an amendment, something like raising a bond aney for local hospitals or lot of times a legislature will put a controversial issue they do not want to decide, like marijuana legalization, they do not want to be the ones that legalize marijuana so the citizens vote on it. so there are minor differences question,ings like a a proposition and initiative, different names for pretty much the same thing. and occasionally a legislature group can put a measure on the ballot and a change the state constitution. we are seeing several constitutional amendments in north carolina this year that ld changeerely -- wou the balance of power between the legislature and governor.

so every state does it a little differently. host: so to the citizen involvement issue, we have a special part of this segment for those viewers, if you are involved in a particular state ballot measure and you want to talk about it we have a special, line for you. 202-748-8003. but other lines as usual. , 202-748-8001, 202-748-8002. they range from the mundane to hot button ballot measures, so what is the most hot button this year? guest: it depends on how you define hot button. let's talk about the ones that will cause the most division. there are abortion measures that would restrict abortion rights in three states, alabama, oregon and west virginia. and that things like the alabama voters will vote to decide whether or not to allow displays of the 10 commandments to be put

in schools in public places. that is one kind of hot button. those kinds of initiatives do not attract a lot of money. they are fought over by sort of the political elites who have decided whether or not they are pro-choice or pro-life long ago. and therefore they will make the same arguments again and again. the things that bring of the most money are the fights between megacorporations. i will give you examples. a ballot measure in nevada right now that would allow for the deregulation of the energy industry. industry --lled nv energy that controls about 90% of the electric grid in the state and there big spenders on both sides that want to either change the status quo or keep it. on the change side are some casinos and some -- a company that runs data farms. they want to be able to essentially go off the grid,

create their own solar power and run their businesses that way you to save a bunch of money because they think they are being charged too much by nv energy. and on the other side you have nv energy, spending more than $10 million so far trying to protect their monopoly. it is a big corporation and they make a lot of money and they want to protect what they have. that is one of the marks as a ballot measures. and the funny thing about it is we have on the casino side, show the nielsen, the billionaire who spend the money on politics, and on the energy side, nv energy is owned by berkshire hathaway, which is owned by warren buffett. one of the list conservative billionaires in the country versus one of the most liberal billionaires in the country. host: and we are talking about candidate donations. how does the candidate spending compared to the ballot measure spending in 2018? guest: california is frick only one of the highest priced states for ballot measures. thetop three most -- sorry,

overall spending on ballot measures so far this year is about $129 million, the last time i looked a a few weeks ago, so it will be higher now. but $129 million is more than the two parties and outside groups have spent on the three most expensive senate races this year. the ballot measures in the campaign world, you can, we have made a decision as a society to restrict conservations to candidates because you might be able to influence a candidate, but we can influence a ballot measure, it is yes or no. so there are unlimited giving in most states, you can give as much as you want to an initiative or a campaign to defeat it. so there is massive money into. host: and there is not a federal election commission that deals with that, it is the states. guest: right. switzerland has one on the federal level, the u.s. doesn't. host: some questions on the ballot every year, at least specific issues. marijuana is one of them.

which states will have marijuana focused ballot measures? guest: we have seen one medical marijuana pass this year in oklahoma, in the primary ballot. in november we will see legalization initiatives in michigan and north dakota. then we have medical marijuana in missouri, utah, and-oklahoma already passed. the interesting thing about the marijuana stuff is we have seen legalization path in some pretty blue states like washington, california, maine, and alaska. we have not seen it in the battleground states, the purple states, but now with michigan they are starting to move into those states. host: and a place where there has been spending on ads for and against, same thing with these estates? aest: marijuana has attracted little bit of money here and there, and the cal point initiative was an expensive one when that passed a few years ago.

but the interesting part of the evolution of marijuana legalization initiatives is that industry is figuring out that this is a big moneymaker. and when marijuana goes legal, many businesses can make a lot of money. so they start spending on that. and the fascinating part is, in some cases the people spending against marijuana legalization are people who run medical marijuana facilities, because they have a monopoly and they want to protect that. why open it up to the legalization side? so they'll spend money against that. host: now is the time to talk ballot measures. "deadly force: the true story of how a badge can become a license to kill" -- reid wilson is with david cicilline -- "the hill." we also have a special line if you're advocating for a specific measure, we want to hear about it, 202-748-8003. in lakeland, florida. an independent. caller: i kind of have a two-part question.

on the ballot measures, you are talking about money but mine is -- money. if you owe somebody money for the most part, they can do different things to you, but if you owe child support they suspended your license. there has been a thing -- i researched this and i am not sure it is even legal -- the fact that nobody ever talks about this, banks, they do not suspend your license if you of the money, but why -- guest: before you get to the other part -- host: do you know of a ballot issue that deals with this topic? caller: there is none. i have been looking into as far as the state constitution. and is this actually a legal being. it is not. there is a lot of gray area. you can never get into but he did talk about this issue. yet, child support, they were

not give you any kind of information. the first thing we was -- they will say is we cannot give legal advice. host: let's take that up. the financial issues, the individual state financial issues, are these the things that make it the ballot measures? guest: occasionally. one of the new forays that proponents are advocating, criminal justice reform. we have seen some measures in the last few years, but again this is not -- when you are talking about reforming government or making a change to sort of the way society works, those ballot measures tend not to get a lot of attention, tend not to attract a lot of spending, unless there is a big financial just behind it. if something of like that would go on the ballot, i can imagine -- for is a become a california passed a measure that would eliminate cash mail. this was a big deal. -- bail. this was a big deal. it will take effect in about a

year from now. immediately after it passed, a group called the professional bill bondsman association of america, something like that, an acronym like that, it mounted a referendum campaign. that would be another form of ballot measure that would allow voters, if they get enough signatures, to decide whether or not to reveal the measure that the state legislature passed. this is something that a lot of states offer, california facing another referendum this year on the gas tax. and in writing up the story i came across dog the bounty hunter in his wife, who actually run via social -- the association and she called me and she was on her way to the airport to start the campaign to roll back the cashless bail program. host: in california and other states that have this, iare they betting that the state legislature does, or every referendum that get enough signatures have to go on the ballot? guest: it does.

has to follow specific guidelines about the language in the ballot, the attorney general in most states, some states the secretary-general, they will approve the ballot language and those questions can get bogged down in court, as we see with the north carolina case where there are several amendments that have spent a couple weeks being fought over in the court. but most times when citizens collect enough signatures they can force any law that the state legislature has passed, in the states, to go on the ballot so voters can reveal them. host: herbert, a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i take medical marijuana for parkinson's. since i was taking it, my hands do not shake as much. i he is to have a lot of seizures, but i do not have them anymore. i do not know why they do not want to legalize it. as a because it brings so much

money that they do not want to legalize it. but it is good for you, medical marijuana. guest: we have seen a lot of medical marijuana measures pass state legislatures, the legislatures are not shy about passing the medical marijuana stuff. even in pretty conservative states. we have only seen one state so far path any kind of legalization, nonmedical marijuana, that was in vermont. the government of new jersey says -- governor of new jersey says he wants to see that happen as well. but again, the legislatures are a little bit shy about being the ones to deregulate drugs. host: what about minimum wage? we have seen some measures on the minimum wage issues. guest: one in arkansas and one in missouri this ballot cycle. minimum wage is fascinating because it is -- its win loss record is unbelievable . the last one that lost was back in 1992. it has been a couple decades

since any minimum wage increase has lost. one reason that parties, like the democratic party especially, loves to put minimum wage on the ballot is because the tests so well and in general democrats support it, republicans oppose it, so they think it will drive turnout from those who would benefit from the wage hike, and they are more likely to vote democratic. not a lot of academic research that says that putting ballot measures on the ballot actually increases turnout, the famous example was 2004 when the republicans led by the bush campaign put something like 11 states, a measure to ban same-sex marriage on the ballot, hoping it would drive evangelical turnout to vote for john bush over john kerry. there have been studies of that particular strategy suggesting it did not actually work. host: a story from the kansas city star. dark money groups dropped $3 million into the minimum wage

campaign in missouri, also a battleground for the senate the cycle. guest: that is why we have a minimum wage fight in a state like missouri, democrats in arkansas do the same thing and i think they have had an increase on the ballot recently as well. when you think dark money, that is what funds these campaigns. it is not terribly dark, we know who is spending the money on the campaigns, but they can pass it through knowing if your corporation x and you give $1 million to the ballot measure, then you know, nobody -- the average voter will not look at the advertisement on television and go back and find out has been paid for by corporation x. let me give you an example of corporate spending. there is a ballot measure in florida that would limit the number of casinos that can be built in the state. and this ballot measure is being funded in part by the seminal indian tribe, which has a number of casinos around the state, and

by the disney corporation, which does not want anymore casinos taking away their entertainment dollars. host: scarlet, good morning. a democrat. caller: thank you for allowing me to speak this morning. please give me information on amendment one in missouri. guest: which one is that? the gerrymandering. guest: ah, yes. caller: election support. guest: good question. this is an issue seen trend we are seeing across the country. voters who are angry about gerrymandering have had limited success in trying to get those laws overturned in state legislatures, aside from a handful of states, so they are turning to ballot measures to change the way that districts are drawn, whether it is at the legislative level or the congressional level. and we have redistricting

measures in four states on the ballot, michigan, colorado, utah, as was missouri. and a lot are hoping to create some kind of commission, something like what exists in california, washington and arizona. and in some other states as well. the commission would be independent of the legislature. and it would be, in some cases appointed by the legislature, the governor, or from a pool of applicants. the details vary by state, but the commission would then come up with some kind of new district boundaries that would have to be approved by a bipartisan group, which means the macabre and republicans, usually in independent component as well, would have seats at the table so that they are incentivized to create fair lines, taking the power away from the state legislatures and giving it to a commission. this is a growing trend we are seeing across the country in terms of people trying to put redistricting measures on the ballot and take a little power

away from the state legislatures. host: missouri is ground zero for that, also amendment two, three and four, and a, b, c and d on the ballot for missouri this year. minimum-wage increase, marijuana tax -- guest: three different marijuana issues in missouri. host: the national conference of state legislatures has a statewide ballot measure database that you can sort through to look at the ballot measures that are on the ballot in your state, also read reid wilson's stories at thehill.com. guest: one more resource, ballotpedia.org is a nonpartisan institute that takes a look at elections and campaigns across the country and they have an excellent database as well, led by a guy named josh who does really good work on this. the first i call when i need to learn about these ballot measures. host: we have a democrat from nebraska, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i -- as a democrat i am pleased nebraska has medicaid expansion, the initiative on the ballot. and i find it interesting that in western nebraska our state lawmakers are using it as an excuse to not go after tax reform. and i am running for county commission and i am running on a stance that we can work across the aisle to have a constitutional convention to change in the tax code of nebraska. so it makes sense. for everybody. guest: yes, the medicaid expansion is interesting, nancy, because it has come up in a couple states. it practicable years ago in maine and the governor has tried to block the implementation, despite the fact that the voters passed it. it is tied up in the courts, as you can imagine. and there is a measure in idaho this year that would expand medicaid. so another way that this -- this is one of the two main drivers

of ballot measures. if citizens get fed up with something, they can put it on the ballot. the other one is if corporations get fed up with something they can put that on the ballot. host: the phone lines again. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. if you are working for a state ballot measure, give us a call at 202-748-8003 and we will discuss that ballot measure. reid wilson is with us for a few more minutes. to get through the lesser-known ballot measures that caught your eye as you are going through the over 151 that will be on the ballots. guest: i am glad you asked. when we talk about big spending it is mind-boggling how much money is being put into these. there is a measure in alaska having to do with protecting salmon habitats, especially from runoff around oil export torry areas -- explores areas and gold mines.

so the companies have gotten together and they are spending $9 million to come up with, or defeat this ballot measure. $9 million, that is about 18 times the number of people who live in alaska, so corporations come together to spend a lot of money. and a similar environmental measure in montana that is a drawing a lot of spinning from the industry groups there. and california is always grounded zero for these big ballot measures. there is a fascinating fight going on between the state nurses union, a powerful, liberal organization and one that has pushed or endorsed bernie sanders in the primaries, and has endorsed the more liberal side of the california dems. they tried to play chicken a little bit with the state legislature, trying to get a requirement for more nurses in hospitals, so they put this on the ballot that would cap the thats of, cap the prices

the kidney dialysis companies are able to charge. those companies are not happy about it, so they sent about $27 million to squash this. it is -- there is another new trend that is starting to happen where an interest group like the nurses union will put something like this on the ballot, and the state legislature will say, do you really want to do that, can we negotiate? so they will come to a middle ground and remove that ballot measure from the ballot. so that can be a good way to use the leverage of government. it has also become a mini cottage industry within itself, because getting something on the ballot requires a lot of signatures. in california, north of 350,000. how do you get them? you pay somebody to do it. it costs millions of dollars to get on the ballot. and in some cases you are paying

five dollars or six dollars per valid signature. and so you are spending millions of dollars to just get on the ballot before you talk to a better about whether or not they should pass it. host: you mentioned in your store the 10 commandments, they will be on the ballot in alabama. guest: the roy moore special. remember the former chief justice, he first got kicked off the state court when he refused to remove a massive statue, a plaque, commemorating the 10 commandments on the grounds of the alabama supreme court. now that measure is on the ballot. and the voters will get to decide. host: that would be amendment one in alabama. brian in massachusetts, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask a question. i mam an out-of-state or in florida and amendment 13 is on its way there. i think 2020. i think it will cost the voters

a a lot of money if it passes. some estimates around $500 million for the race tracks. so i wonder if you have knowledge or understanding about what is going on, and if you thanks ford answering my question. guest: i do not know specifically if it will pass, however, florida does have an unusual law that requires a ballot measure that passes to pass with 60% of the vote. not 50% plus one. some states have higher standards for constitutional amendments. but in florida it is a 60% threshold. so things like greyhound racing, sports betting, any fashion -- like horseracing, things like that, they tend to get on the ballot in a lot of states. and we have seen them generate a lot of spending, because there are business interests involved.

host: come back to the 60%, is that become the state legislatures do not trust the voters? guest: i do none know the history of the florida law, but there are different thresholds in certain states, in terms of constitutional amendments. and in some states they could change the cost-efficient with a supermajority vote. in other states it requires 60% or 67%, a higher threshold because putting something in the state constitution is kind of a big deal. so there are different thresholds, but the vast majority of states for a citizen initiative that would only change statute, the vast majority only require 50% of the vote. host: dustin, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i was wondering if we removed the electoral college, with that effectively remove gerrymandering? guest: they are not directly eelated, but there is a, ther are a couple of groups that want

to remove the electoral college as a way to protest. they one to change the way that presidential elections are conducted. in some cases they want to move toward a more proportional system, like nebraska and maine have, in which a candidate can win a congressional district and take one electoral vote without taking all of them. and another group would change the way that, the actual electors who get together informally choose the president, how they vote. it is called the national popular vote. they would not technically change the electoral college, because that requires a change in the constitution and that is very hard to do, but what they would do is if a certain candidate won the popular vote, the states would instruct the electors to vote for that candidate, regardless of who won the state. so effectively they would circumvent the electoral college. i am not sure it would change gerrymandering, i think you have to make changes to the way that states operate their own sort of

draw their own mind and the u.s. constitution gives the states the authority to change those lines. and to draw those lines. and in some states, we have seen the legislatures give up that power. in iowa, in the late 70's and early 1980's, they got sued so many times that they said to heck with this, we will let they legislative staff draw the districts that are fair and competitive, and effectively i would visit by the computer. and now iowa has four pretty decent looking districts. other states are involved it would more in negotiations. the washington system, my home state, has a commission that draws it that has five members, two democrats, two republicans and one independent chosen by the other four. and they usually come out with a unanimous decision that gives democrats x number of seats and

republicans x number of seats, and they get to fight over one or two of them. so you have to change the way that the state legislature does things, rather than changing the electoral college. host: and i would point you to reid wilson's story. you can read through that as we hear from carol in st. louis. good morning. caller: what i was calling about is in the summer, i think it was the beginning of it, we voted on the right to work. whether people wanted right to work in the state and we voted it out, we said no. now, the way that i understand, there was a public news announcement that that is ok, we would just vote on it again in the legislature and we will do -- we was is overturn it. that is not right. guest: yes, that is something that legislatures do. and here in washington dc, just

-- when was the primary, june? we had a ballot measure that would've raised the minimum wage , i forget workers to the details, $12 or $15 an hour. it passed overwhelmingly. and then the city council pretty much instantly made it clear that they are going to overturn that too. so state legislatures have the ability to go back, in our case the city council, have the ability to go back and do something different and a change the law. and by that point, if voters feel strongly enough about expressed, will they then they can take it up with this is legislature. host: abortion on the state ballot, state ballots this year, three states with abortion related legislation. what are they other ones? guest: what?

host: the states that have those initiatives? guest: those with abortion measures are alabama, oregon and west virginia. in all cases they are researching measures, so on the antiabortion side of the argument. and that is something we are seeing -- we have seen a lot of abortion fights play out in the last few years. and they are taking on new saliency now that we have a debate over judge kavanaugh's nomination to the supreme court. and there are several state legislatures run by republicans that have passed very restrictive measures on abortion, whether it is researching abortions after 15 ce a fetal heartbeat is detected. some of the most restrictive measures have come from states like iowa, mississippi, and those measures have been passed knowing full well that they will be challenged in the courts, because first it has to be

challenged in the district court, than the circuit court, then in the court of appeals, then finally it goes to the supreme court. that takes a couple of years and the antiabortion folks on the republican side have passed measures to basically start the runway to a challenge to roe v. wade, betting on the fact that there will be a majority in favor of overturning roe v. wade. host: time for some more calls. democrat, good morning. caller: how are you doing, this is john. host: doing well, go ahead. caller: on measure one in alabama -- host: the property tax exemption? caller: about the 10 commandments. host: ok. caller: i hope it does not pass, because of the way it is being done. and also, i will leave because -- i am not very good at

talking on the phone. 29.9here is a proverb, that says if a white man -- with a polish man -- foolish man --[indiscernible] thank you. guest: it is fascinating how much we can change our own democracy through ballot initiatives. and that is a cool system. i do not know. ballot initiatives in the early part of the 20th century were used to break the power of big gging orions like lo railroad interests, to break their control over legislatures. johnson was the big progressive advocate of ballot measures back then. and states like montana, idaho, washington, oregon and california, there were all these

ballot measures that changed in the way that the states were run. i think it is cool. host: last call from minneapolis. fernando, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a common, not so much a question, related to ballot measures. not much ballot measures, the ballots in general. one of the ways i think that we as a people can start to make real changes to the system as a whole, and to democracy as we know it, is to remind folks we do not only have the right to vote, but we also have the right to run. we see the same names on the same ticket the year after year after year, and we have been griping for decades about how nothing is changing. it is time for folks to start organizing themselves and get their own little campaign going, get more names on the ballot, offers some more choices so we can introduce more competition

into the democratic system and push out some of this money with some of our voices. tha is all i have to sayt -- that is all i have to say. host: thank you. guest: i will take that example. somebody who wants to change the way the system is run -- there is a guy in california who has spent tens of millions of dollars on a series of bills called marcy's law. it is a victim's rights measure that has passed in five states so far. on the ballot this year in six other states. it would allow victims families to be at court hearings and give input on sentencing and things like that. named after his sister, who something horrible happened to. it is an example of somebody who wanted to change the way the system was, he did not want to run for office he just wanted to push through ballot measures and that is what he is doing. some people across the country are not spending tens of

millions of dollars, but they are getting measures on the ballot. the redistricting measure in winchendon -- in michigan without paying signature gatherers. they already have far more than they needed to get on the ballot. host: reid wilson, a national correspondent for the hill. your book came out recently about that a bullet epidemic. -- ebola epidemic. >> c-span's washington journal live every day with issues that impact you. coming up thursday morning, toorney would join us discuss the latest on the process for supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. we will talk about election security and preventing foreign interference.

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