The San Francisco Declaration

San Francisco recently played host to the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, a five-day international event including the two-day U.S. Conference on Initiative and Referendum, the first meeting of its kind in the 21st century. At its conclusion, it issued the San Francisco Declaration on Direct Democracy. An excerpt:

We agree that three values must be applied to direct democracy everywhere: transparency, open access, and deliberation.

1. Transparency: At every stage of each direct democratic action, and in every aspect of the initiative and referendum process, citizens have a right to know as much as possible about the people and money behind each measure, so long as individuals are protected against coercion and retribution for their votes and for their signatures.

2. Open access. Access to the process, especially the qualification of measures for ballots, should be based on measures of substantial popular support - and should not be dependent on money or on the sanction or approval of public officials or political parties or interest groups.

Technology and other innovations should be fully incorporated into the process consistent with the values of expanding access and ensuring transparency.

3. Deliberation. A deliberative process that is driven by and managed by citizens themselves should be part of every direct democracy. We believe that the most important factors in deliberation are the ability to hear multiple views from all sides - and the time to consider each direct democratic measure fully.