Create more clear liability for the people at the top (fraud, racketeering, etc)
It is worth exploring whether criminal charges should be brought against perpetrators of proven fraud. We especially need to create clear avenues for holding the people at the top accountable. If a proponent, lead sponsor, or campaign organization hires a petitioning firm that commits fraud in order to qualify, and knows about that fraud, there should be some criminal remedy.
The best example to work from is Oregon. In 2002, the Voter Education Project documented significant fraud and forgery and turned it over to elections officials. In turn charges were brought not only against certain petitioners, but also the initiative sponsor, Bill Sizemore. He was charged and convicted with racketeering, charged a hefty fine, and was prohibited from using his organization for sponsoring ballot initiatives again. This stuck because advocates in Oregon were able to show that the money at the top paying the signature gatherers understood, funded, and participated in the fraud in the signature gathering process.
