Printing petitions on carbon copy paper is a good idea -- if your intention is to let voters take home a copy of what they signed. (Often, they don't have time to read what they signed). It also would provide a very basic fraud protection. But carbon copies are often prohibited by state laws and regulations on petitions.

Folks in Daytona Beach, Florida, want to bring carbon copies into the process -- but for the wrong reasons. Backers of multiple ballot measures there -- six measures in all -- circulated three petitions together on carbon paper so voters could sign three petitions with one signature. That's efficient, I suppose, and a nice way to save money. And, yes, the circulators reportedly gave voters the option of signing a single petition separately. But carbon paper, in this case, is simply being used for mass production of ballot measures. That's not a good reason to change the law. (Hat tip: Ballot Access News).