New requirements outlines for introducing ballot initiatives

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - It seems like every election the island is introduced to a new initiative on the ballot and according to GEC executive director Maria Pangelinan, public law will now change the way initiatives are handled providing for more accountability and transparency. "A major thing for the initiator of the initiative is that if they're going to put an initiative on the ballot, they must host village meetings, that's probably the very visible change in the law," she explained.

For instance, if an initiative measure is not approved by more than 60% of voters in any election, no initiative measure proposing a substantially similar or related subject shall be submitted to voters for at least 10 years after the date of such election.

While an individual had made an inquiry on an initiative sometime last year, the GEC has not received any formal petitions.