Hackers' Pub

Syntax	Description	Examples
`"` keyword `"`	Finds the string within quotes, including spaces. Case-insensitive. (Escape quotes inside with `\"`)	`"Hackers' Pub"`
`from:` handle	Finds content written by the specified user.	`from:hongminhee` `from:hongminhee@hollo.social`
`lang:` ISO 639-1	Finds content written in the specified language.	`lang:en`
`#` tag	Finds content with the specified tag. Case-insensitive.	`#HackersPub`
condition condition	Finds content that satisfies both conditions on either side of the space (logical AND).	`"Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
condition `OR` condition	Finds content that satisfies at least one of the conditions on either side of the OR operator (logical OR).	`#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
`(` condition `)`	Combines the operators within the parentheses first.	`(#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" OR "Hackers Pub") lang:en`

Jeff Atwood @codinghorror@infosec.exchange

3/16/2026, 10:49:13 AM

Public

I did some analysis around "The Montana Plan" to get Citizens United undone state by state and.. man. It's.. uh.. looking.. er.. bad? Like.. REAL bad? https://transparentelection.org

Transparent Election Initiative - Our Fight Against Corporate Money in Politics

Transparent Election Initiative | The Montana Plan

The Montana Plan will stop corporate and dark money cold. Learn how Montanans will beat Citizens United.

transparentelection.org · Transparent Election Initiative

Jeff Atwood @codinghorror@infosec.exchange

3/16/2026, 1:27:48 PM

Public

really, really NOT good .. "even when [state] voters win, the [state] governing coalition often comes back to undo it."

The broader 2025–2026 trend in red states

The broader trend is clearly hostile to direct democracy. Ballotpedia’s 2025 review found 72 enacted ballot-process bills, and in the main categories it tracked — foreign-spending rules, higher approval thresholds, signer-ID requirements, and shorter circulation periods — every change moved in the restrictive direction. A majority of the bills proposed from 2018–2025 came from Republican trifecta states.

That same trend shows up in election rules. Six states banned ranked-choice voting in 2025, bringing the total to 17, and no state expanded RCV through legislation that year. Utah’s municipal RCV pilot survived an early repeal effort, but lawmakers did not extend it, so it is set to expire after the 2025 general election.

Florida is the strongest current example of how far this can go. HB 1205 tightened sponsor and circulator rules, verification procedures, penalties, and other initiative requirements, and in February 2026 the Florida Department of State announced that all 22 active citizen-led constitutional amendment campaigns failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot.

Does anything still happen at non-trivial scale in red states?

Yes — but mostly as episodic wins, not stable governing power.

Missouri is the clearest example. In 2024, Missouri voters approved a constitutional abortion-rights amendment and also approved Proposition A, a citizen initiative raising the minimum wage and requiring paid sick leave. Nebraska voters also approved a paid sick leave initiative in 2024, and Nebraska’s labor department says that law took effect on October 1, 2025. Florida voters had previously approved a $15 minimum wage amendment in 2020. These are not tiny symbolic wins; they are statewide policy changes in conservative or Republican-led environments.

But durability is where the model breaks down. Missouri’s GOP government repealed major parts of Proposition A in 2025, and Missouri lawmakers also put a 2026 measure on the ballot to overturn the abortion-rights amendment voters had just adopted in 2024. That is probably the cleanest recent evidence for your point: even when voters win, the governing coalition often comes back to undo it.

My corrected conclusion

So here is the corrected version of my earlier claim:

Ballot initiatives are no longer the “most viable strategy” in red states in the broad sense.
What they are is the only statewide mechanism that still occasionally beats the ruling coalition on substance. But those wins are increasingly fragile unless all three conditions are true:

the measure is constitutional, not just statutory;

the campaign is prepared for immediate court fights over ballot language, signatures, and implementation;

the issue has simple majority appeal outside party ideology, usually on pocketbook or anti-corruption grounds.

Put more bluntly: yes, these things still happen at scale in red states, but they usually happen as one-off statewide rebellions, not as durable control of the policy process. Montana, Missouri, and Florida all point in that direction.

If you have a fediverse account, you can quote this note from your own instance. Search https://infosec.exchange/users/codinghorror/statuses/116239084341950618 on your instance and quote it. (Note that quoting is not supported in Mastodon.)