Bloomberg BNA:

Political groups have already raised more than $125 million so far to get issues directly before voters, a Bloomberg analysis of state campaign finance data shows. That’s a 74 percent increase from what was raised for initiatives at the same point in the 2014 election cycle.

Ballot measures allow groups to get a popular vote on specific policy measures rather than go through the arduous process of lobbying state legislators to take action, which often involves some form of compromise with members of the opposing party.