From AmericaSpeaks:
What were the most interesting public deliberations to take place this year?
This certainly isn’t a definitive list. But as I think about the past year, here are the five efforts that stand out for me as being noteworthy and important.
The Oregon Citizen Initiative Review is a process organized by Healthy Democracy Oregon that is designed to allow the citizens of Oregon to evaluate statewide ballot measures. Through the CIR process, a random sample of Oregon citizens come together to hear testimony about the pros and cons of initiatives, deliberate on the measure, and then relay that information to the voters of Oregon via a one-page citizen statement summarizing their findings and positions. This statement is added to the voter’s pamphlet, designed to give voters facts and perspectives that they may not have gotten on their own.