2014 Citizens Initiative Review Pilot

Healthy Democracy partnered with Engaged Public and The Civic Canopy to pilot a Citizens Initiative Review process at the state level in Colorado in 2014. A citizen panel of 20 Colorado voters – chosen at random from the voting population of Colorado and balanced to fairly reflect the state’s voting population – evaluated Proposition 105, which dealt with the labeling of GMO foods.

The clip below features 2014 Colorado CIR citizen panelists Bill Wright and Ben Hamilton and Brenda Morrison of Engaged Public discussing Prop 105 and the CIR process. (From the October 17, 2014 episode of Colorado State of Mind on Rocky Mountain PBS.)

Colorado Citizens' Statements

Proposition 105 (2014)

Project Partners

Recent Tweets

Participating in the Citizens’ Initiative Review creates an amazing opportunity for voting citizens to increase their impact on democracy. The Citizen’s Statement that is created as a result of the CIR directly informs the Oregon Voter’s guide!
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 7 days ago

Want to participate in democracy at the local level? Be part of the citizen panel for our upcoming Citizens’ Initiative Review process in August for Multnomah, Clackamas & Washington counties. Learn more at buff.ly/2J9bn35
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 1 week ago

Excited to announce we are hosting a Citizens' Initiative Review of a proposed ballot measure in August for Multnomah, Clackamas & Washington Counties! Visit buff.ly/2NCnGIM for more details.
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 2 weeks ago

Democracy in the US was founded on the idea that all citizens have opportunity to participate in its processes and systems. We value inclusion and deliberation in our work. We are committed to integrity and transparency within our organization. Learn more: buff.ly/2zt0qtV
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 2 weeks ago

Democracy in the US was founded on the idea that all citizens have opportunity to participate in its processes and systems. We value inclusion and deliberation in our work. We are committed to integrity and transparency within our organization. Learn more: buff.ly/2NCnGIM
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 2 weeks ago

Healthy Democracy is a nonpartisan nonprofit… instagram.com/p/BkQoMqOgygQ/…
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 1 month ago

The first-ever Drinks for Democracy: E Pluribus… instagram.com/p/BkQcoWZAg-Y/…
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 1 month ago

Drinks for Democracy: E Pluribus Brewnum healthydemocracy.org/events/2018/06…
— Healthy Democracy @(healthydem) 1 month ago

Recent Posts

2018 Portland-Area CIR Announcement

July 19, 2018

Got This Letter in Your Mail? You’ve won the democracy lottery! If you received the letter, you have a chance to be part of a Citizens’ Initiative Review. If you reply and are randomly selected, you will: Spend four days reviewing a measure on the November ballot, as part of a 20-person citizen panel Have
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This is What Democracy Looks Like: Notes from Conversations in a Crook County Barn

June 1, 2018

Into the Central Oregon barn walked students with purple hair, red Chuck Taylor high tops, and silver nose rings. They were gay and straight, male and female; each of them young, and all of them environmental studies majors from Lewis and Clark College in Portland. Greeting them were farmers in Oregon State baseball caps and ranchers with silver hair beneath cowboy hats, and small timber operators with the scars to prove it. Some were young, but most were less young, and all had lived their lives and were making their living on the soil of the small Crook County community of Powell Butte.

Madison Students Investigate School Safety Through Deliberative Democracy

May 16, 2018

From May 21st to 25th, 10th-grade students at La Follette High School in Madison will have the opportunity to dive deeper into a hotly debated current issue: whether the Madison School Board should renew its contract for educational resource officers (EROs) at district high schools.

CIR in Colorado