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campaign finance laws. permitting corporations and any other party to spend unlimited amoiuits of money to influence the outcome. Money Spent on Initiative and Referenda CYrcumvent Populism In perhaps the best study to date on initiative and referenda, Thomas Cronin indicates in his book Direct Democracy that money has a decisive influence on the outcome of ballot measures. For example, he notes that corporate-backed sponsors win 80% of the ballot initiatives and that when big money opposes a poorly funded ballot measure, "the evidence suggests that the wealthier side has about a 75 percent or better chance of defeating it." In addition, evidence demonstrates strong correlations between the amount of money spent and the number of votes cast and that while money cannot guarantee victory, the amount of money spent is decisive in defeating a ballot proposition. Overall, the evidence suggests that a popular ballot measure is more often than not defeat by corporate and big money and that corporate and special interest money and not the will of the people is what generally prevails in initiative and referendum decisions. Big Money Distorts Public Deliberation What big money buys in debates on ballot measures is media exposure. According to several studies, media exposure is the single most important factor influencing and swaying voter decisions. Given the cost of the media, for the most part, the public will be asked to make critical public policy decisions based upon 1S second sound bites financed by interests that have the most money to spend on the • media. Clearly our constitutional framers the original supporters of initiative and referendum did not envision policy making premised upon sound bites and the cash nexus yet the evidence suggests in California and other states that this is exactly what has happened. Initiative and Referendum has Little Impact on Voter Turnout Advocates of initiative and referendum claim that letting the voters decide increases turnout. Unfornmately there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. When appropriate variables are held constant, there is little difference in voter turnout in states that have initiative and referendum versus those that do not. In addition, in some states, such as California, the presence of often 10, 20, or more initiatives on the ballot has lead to voter burnout where citizens, unable to digest the information necessary to make intelligent choices on all the ballot measures, have opted not to vote on them. Initiative and Referendum often hurt Mlnorlty Rights Thomas Cronin notes in Direct Democract~ that minority rights are often targets of initiatives and referenda. While it is no doubt the case that some ballot measures have supported minority rights, the truth is that more often than not ballot measures have become another measures for special interest • groups to push their agenda, often at the expense of individual rights. It is unlikely that debates on the 2