In my opinion no. In fact if the signatures on a petition are not made public then the petition is meaningless. Also if you feel so strongly about a subject to sign a petition you should stand by your conviction and deal with what comes.[/QUOTE]
I agree. If the signatures aren't verifiable in even a cursory, common-sense fashion, there's simply no reason for that petition to be considered legitimate. The whole point of public petitions as measures for getting referendums on the ballot is that the signatures be verifiable as individuals who could vote on the measure.
Otherwise you might as well make ballot decisions by counting the number of honks you get in support when holding a sign by the highway.[/QUOTE]
This one isn't so cut-n-dry to me. Think of it from another issue 40 years ago: what could have happened to supporters to repeal racism laws in the KKK-dominated areas? [/quote]
What you're obliquely alluding to was happening without the petitions regardless.
Which is why the actual act of voting is private, and why petition requirements to get referendums on the ballot are significantly smaller than even a fraction of the eligible voting populations. The whole point of referendum petitions is to demonstrate that a sufficiently large number of eligible voters is willing to stand up and be counted in support of a measure such that there is a large possibility of support from other eligible voters who did not want to self-identify but would still want to vote on the subject.
Now, if we were living in Soviet Russia, like some idiots (not you, Eriol) apparently believe we're headed towards, then I could see not wanting to be on the list. I think we still have quite a ways to go, on that score, however..
