Calculate the Price of a Vote
Money will not guarantee victory for an initiative campaign, nor does the lack of money translate into defeat. However, when it comes to initiative campaigns, money does make a very, very big difference.
The price of a successful initiative campaign varies wildly. How much money it takes to win depends upon a combination of how much natural support you have among voters, how much money will be spent on the other side, and how complicated the issue is to explain.
The calculator below uses campaign finance data from four previous initiatives. The dollars spent on each campaign ranges from a limited budget to a multi-million dollar budget. Plug in the amount of money you think it would take to buy a victory for each one. Don't forget--public opinion is the wild card!
How Much Money Would You Have Needed?
Follow the Money
Campaign Finance information is one of the most important resources voters need to make informed choices on Election Day. The California Voter Foundation is dedicated to helping the public gain timely access to reliable campaign finance disclosure data. Voters who "follow the money" can quickly find out which interest groups are backing a particular candidate or proposition. Check out the finance data for propositions on the 2000 ballot: http://www.calvoter.org/followthemoney/index.html
*NOTE:
The above text explanation was excerpted from the book, "The Initiative Cookbook: Recipes from California's Ballot Wars" by Jim Shultz, courtesy The Democracy Center.
The data for this calculator was taken from the following sources:
Statewide Voter Returns: California Secretary of State
Total Money Spent: California Voter Foundation
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