On September 22, the Ninth Circuit refused to rehear the part of Pierce v Jacobsen, 21-35173, that left intact Montana’s ban on paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. The original decision had said the ban might be unconstitutional, but that the plaintiffs hadn’t filed enough evidence to make that case.
That decision had also struck down the ban on out-of-state circulators, and Montana did not ask for a rehearing on that part of the case.
Good. Now California needs to ban pay per signature. Ban on pay per signature would stop Astroturf campaigns in California and significant fraud. These are serious problem in California.
Voice from the wild is correct. Paying people to collect signatures should be completely illegal. Even more so if they are not born and raised in that state and county, if their ancestors did not fight in the American Revolution, or if they are not Straight White property owning men over 30 who or not members in good standing of a Christian church, and that does not mean cults like the Catholics, Mormons, or Unitarians etc.