Activists protest Postal Service's anti-petition policy

Supporters of initiatives and referenda say they will soon file suit challenging a U.S. Postal Service regulation that bars signature-gatherers from circulating petitions on Postal Service property.

The Postal Service has long barred private charitable solicitations and electoral campaigning on its premises. But in a little-noticed decision last year, the Postal Service for the first time decided to shut the door on petitioners who were seeking signatures from the public.

The changes-which were effective June 25, 1998-"prohibit soliciting of signatures on petitions, polls or surveys on postal property except as otherwise authorized," according to the final rule listed in that day's Federal Register.

Such policies "have been reviewed by the courts and upheld," said Roy Betts, manager of media relations for the Postal Service. "The changes were made after a careful review of court decisions, which found that the rules do not infringe upon anyone's First Amendment rights."

While initiative advocates say enforcement began sporadically, this year has brought trespassing arrests of circulators in at least two states.

Today, the Initiative and Referendum Institute (IRI), a Washington nonprofit, announced that initiative advocates will meet on Sept. 9 to weigh their legal options. IRI president M. Dane Waters said the group is likely to file suit in federal court, either in Washington or in Colorado, where activists perceive warmer feelings toward ballot initiatives.

"If the Postal Service is allowed to keep these restrictions, it will just be a matter of time before petitioning is banned at all government and public locations," Waters said.

The critics say the Postal Service's decision especially hurts rural areas, where door-to-door campaigning is prohibitively expensive. "In these states there aren't many 'urban' locations to collect signatures, so therefore the petitioners have to find a location where people come from rural areas to congregate," Waters said. "A good example is Alliance, Neb., the largest city in rural western Nebraska. Petitioners cannot collect signatures at the Wal-Mart or the bank, so petitioners have always gone to the post office."

Already, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has sent a letter requesting an explanation from the Postal Service about its actions. Tancredo cited incidents in which petition-circulators in his district were threatened with arrest if they did not leave Postal Service premises.