FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A conservative group advocating greater use of citizen ballot initiatives has created a platform to allow secure digital signatures to replace traditional handwritten signatures, arguing technology could lower the cost of petition drives and reduce fraud.
The Prosperity for US Foundation contends that modernizing petition laws to permit verified and authenticated electronic signatures—requiring backup information such as the last four digits of a Social Security number and a driver’s license number—could transform how citizens qualify initiatives for the ballot.
The foundation argues that digital signatures are already widely used in private sector transactions and have been recognized under state and federal law for decades.
Its platform would use a petitioner’s name, date of birth, state, voter registration information, driver’s license number, and the last four digits of a Social Security number to pre-authenticate a signature to send to a secretary of state.
“You can use a digital signature to register to vote,” Bob Carlstrom, executive director of the Prosperity for US Foundation, told the Daily Signal. “If it can be used to verify voter registration, a digital signature should be used to verify signers for a ballot initiative.”
The foundation’s argument is that authenticated digital signatures could reduce the number of legitimate signatures rejected while simultaneously making fraudulent signatures more difficult to submit.
“Fraud is significantly higher with wet signatures,” said Carlstrom, a former president of AMAC Action, the lobbying arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens. He is also a former official for the Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan White House.
Currently, 26 states allow a form of citizen-initiated ballot measures, according to Ballotpedia. Of those, 18 allow for initiated constitutional amendments; 21 allow for initiated state statutes, while two, Maryland and New Mexico, allow veto referendums of laws, but not for statutes or amendments.
All states require handwritten signatures, or “wet signatures,” for ballot initiatives, except for Utah, which allows digital signatures, according to a 2025 analysis of referendums by the California state Assembly. California is among the best known for ballot measures.
Carlstrom said officials from secretaries of state offices in Georgia and South Carolina have expressed interest in the technology.
“When it comes to ballot measures, they are overworked, and it’s an administrative burden,” he said of state election officials.
Spokespersons for those offices did not immediately respond to inquiries for this story.
This year, there were two major controversies regarding complaints that election officials used an arbitrary standard in counting signatures.
Petitioners backing measures to increase funding for police sued over Multnomah County, Oregon’s rejection of referendum signatures. Among their arguments was that some signatures were rejected for that measure even though the same individuals’ signatures had been accepted on other petitions.
Also earlier this year, a conservative group in Lincoln, Nebraska, submitted petitions seeking to change the city’s election system, moving elections to even years. But election officials rejected more than 65% of the signatures, alleging some were fraudulent. The campaign subsequently restarted its petition drive.
The cost of collecting signatures in California can range from about $12 to $15 per signature. The foundation estimates that the cost could fall to less than $2 using digital signatures, said David Biddulph, chairman of the Prosperity for US Foundation.
The foundation also estimates that the cost of running a petition campaign in a medium-sized state could decline from more than $3 million to less than $1 million.
Biddulph said almost 30% of handwritten signatures, typically called “wet signatures,” are rejected across the states that allow citizens to initiate ballot measures for various reasons.
“There is an institutional bias against counting any names at all,” Biddulph told the Daily Signal. “The judicial branch and the administrative state are diametrically opposed to direct democracy.”
The foundation says it has developed a voter-outreach database containing 184 million contacts. It argues that direct democracy gives voters an avenue to influence public policy when elected officials are unwilling to adopt fiscal policies supported by voters.
It is advocating a package of fiscal and governmental reforms, including model constitutional amendments to limit annual property tax increases, cap the growth of government revenue and spending, require voter approval for new or increased taxes and fees, protect property rights, and establish what it describes as an absolute right for citizens to initiate petitions for state constitutional amendments without legislative amendment or approval.
“The American people care about affordability. The politicians aren’t going to provide it,” said Biddulph, founder of the Tax Cap Committee in Florida, and later co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, which advocates for a federal constitutional amendment to keep a balanced budget.
The foundation points to Switzerland as an example of a country that has embraced digital signatures as part of efforts to expand citizen participation in direct democracy.
The foundation says more than 100 bills were introduced in more than 15 states in 2026 that would limit some aspect of the initiative and referendum process. The proposed changes include wet-signature requirements, shorter petition-gathering periods, and geographic requirements.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
