Vicarious Deliberation: How the Oregon Citizens' Initiative Review Influenced Deliberation in Mass Elections

Authors

  • John Gastil The Pennsylvania State University
  • Robert Richards The Pennsylvania State University
  • Katherine Knobloch Colorado State University

Keywords:

ballot initiatives, deliberative democracy, information processing, minipublics, political knowledge, policy analysis, public opinion, voting guides

Abstract

The state of Oregon established the Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) to improve the quality of public deliberation during direct elections. To better understand how a deliberative “mini-public” can influence electoral deliberation on complex ballot issues, we analyzed the 2010 CIR’s Citizens’ Statements as well as how the Oregon electorate used them. Analysis of this case shows the political feasibility of intensive deliberation and the Oregon public’s appreciation of having access to neutral information developed by peers. This study also examines how the CIR Statements were written, their distinctive topical coverage relative to conventional voting guides, and what they left out of their policy analyses.

Author Biographies

John Gastil, The Pennsylvania State University

ProfessorDepartment of Communication Arts and Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. in communication arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994. He specializes in political deliberation and group decision making, and his most recent books include The Australian Citizens' Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy, Democracy in Motion, and The Jury and Democracy.

Robert Richards, The Pennsylvania State University

Doctoral Candidate    Oct 2013JD, MSLIS, MA is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. He studies legal information and communication systems. His Ph.D. research concerns the communication of legal information about ballot initiatives to voters. His work has appeared in Politics & Society, The Journal of Public Deliberation, and other journals.

Katherine Knobloch, Colorado State University

Assistant Professor  Oct 2013and the Associate Director of the Center for Public Deliberation in the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Communication at the University of Washington in 2012. Her research focuses on evaluating the quality of deliberative public processes and their effects on participants and communities. Her work has appeared in The Journal of Applied Communication Research and Javnost – The Public.

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Published

2014-01-02

Issue

Vol. 8 (2014)

Section

Articles

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