In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a statewide referendum or popular vote, either enacting new legislation or voting down existing legislation. Citizens or an organization might start a popular initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum, or actual vote.

Initiatives and referendums, along with recall elections and popular primary elections, were signature reforms from the Progressive Era (1896–1917) when people sought to moderate the power of parties and political bosses. These powers are written into several state constitutions, particularly in the West. Initiatives and referendums constitute a form of direct democracy. Since 1955, states have increasingly rescinded rights to initiatives and referendums; "the strongest predictor of anti-direct-democracy proposals is Republican control of the state legislature." There is currently no mechanism for popular initiatives at the federal (national) level.

The technical name of these types of votes used internationally is referendum, but within the United States they are commonly known as ballot measures, propositions or ballot questions. The term referendum in the United States normally refers specifically to questions about striking down enacted law, known internationally as the popular referendum.

History

The Progressive Era was a period marked by reforms aimed at breaking the concentrated power, or monopoly, of certain corporations and trusts. Many Progressives believed that state legislatures were part of this problem and that they were essentially "in the pocket" of certain wealthy interests. They sought a method to counter this—a way in which average persons could become directly involved in the political process. One of the methods they came up with was the initiative and referendum. Through 2006, 2,231 statewide initiatives were held in the United States, of which 887 were successful.

Types of initiatives and referendums

Initiatives and referendums—collectively known as "ballot measures", "propositions", or simply "questions"—differ from most legislation passed by representative democracies; ordinarily, an elected legislative body develops and passes laws. Initiatives and referendums, by contrast, allow citizens to vote directly on legislation.

In many U.S. states, ballot measures may originate by several different processes: Overall, 26 US states have initiative and/or veto referendum processes at the statewide level, and all states have at least one form of legislatively referred processes: 49 states have at least a legislatively referred process to amend their constitutions, and one state, Delaware, has a possibility of legislatively referred ballot measures to pass new statutes only. In all of these states except Delaware, to modify the state constitution, at least one form of ballot measure is mandatory, under sometimes greatly different processes from state to state, either for directly voting on a proposed modification, or voting on a ballot measure for choosing to call or not for the election of a state convention charged of modifying the state constitution. Washington, D.C., also has initiative and veto referendum processes. Additionally, multiple forms of direct democracy also exists at the local level, including in some states that otherwise do not have these forms of direct democracy at the state level, the availability of direct democracy measures at the local level varying by jurisdiction depending on state and local laws.

Initiatives An initiative is a means through which any citizen or organization may gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify a measure to be placed on a ballot, and to be voted upon in a future election. These may be further divided into constitutional amendments and statutory initiatives. Statutory initiatives typically require fewer signatures to qualify to be placed on a future ballot.

Initiatives can also be indirect, which means that after sufficient signatures to place a measure on the ballot are collected, the measure is first considered by a state or local legislative body. If the legislative body elects not to pass the proposed new law within a prescribed window of opportunity, the initiative must then be placed on the ballot. The details of the process vary by state. For example, in some states, another round of signatures is required to qualify an initiative for the ballot if the legislature does not approve it. In others, if the legislature passes a law determined to be substantially similar to the initiative, it precludes an election on the original initiative proposal, while in others the legislature must pass the initiative unaltered or it goes to the voters.Gray, Virginia & Russell L. Hanson. Politics in the American States. 9 ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008. p. 141.

Initiated state constitutional amendment

An initiated constitutional amendment is an amendment to a state's constitution that results from petitioning by a state's citizens. By utilizing this initiative process, citizens can propose and vote on constitutional amendments directly, without need of legislative referral. When a sufficient number of citizens have signed a petition requesting it, a proposed constitutional amendment is then put to the vote.

In the United States, while no court or legislature needs to approve a proposal or the resultant initiated constitutional amendment, such amendments may be subject to judicial review and can be struck down if found to conflict with the U.S. Constitution. Most states that permit initiated constitutional amendments require approval by a simple majority of voters, although some states impose higher thresholds (for example, Florida requires 60% voter approval and Colorado requires 55%). Not all amendments proposed will receive sufficient support to be placed on the ballot. Of the 26 proposed petitions filed in the state of Florida in its 1994 general election, only three garnered sufficient support to be put to the vote.Jameson, P.K. and Marsha Hosack. (1996) "Citizen Initiative in Florida: An Analysis of Florida's Constitutional Initiative Process, Issues, and Statutory Initiative Alternatives ." pp. 1-2. Originally published in Florida State University Law Review 23:417.

Indirect initiated state constitutional amendment The initiative process, for proposing constitutional amendments, may also, like for state statutes, be "direct" or "indirect". Among the 18 states that provide for citizen-initiated constitutional amendments, Massachusetts and Mississippi are the only two states with indirect initiated state constitutional amendment. In Massachusetts, if enough signatures are submitted for an initiated constitutional amendment, the initiative first goes to the legislature where it must garner approval in two successive legislative sessions from one-quarter of state senators and representatives voting together in a joint session. Massachusetts is the only state to have such a requirement for initiated constitutional amendments.Gray, Virginia & Russell L. Hanson. Politics in the American States. 9 ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008. p. 141.

Before 2021 in Mississippi, if enough signatures were collected and submitted, the legislature had to either: approve the measure; ignore the measure (but it does not annul the measure, it still goes to the ballot); voting against the measure without providing for an alternative (but it does not annul the measure, it still goes to the ballot); or approve an alternative amendment to appear on the ballot alongside the original citizen proposal as a competing measure. In the cases when both of the contradicting measures were approved by voters, the measure with the most votes was the one that became law.

A May 2021 decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court nullified a voter-passed initiative that permitted medical marijuana in the state, with the 6–3 majority citing a fundamental flaw in the state's constitutional process that was viewed by media as effectively banning future use of indirect initiatives in the amendment process, barring a future constitutional amendment. The indirect initiative process, added to the state's constitution in the 1990s as Article 15, Section 273(3), requires that over a 1-year period, the sponsors obtain a total number of signatures equal to at least 12% of the total number of votes cast for governor in the state's last election for that office. Additionally, it requires that no more than 20% of the signatures required to place an initiative on the ballot come from any single congressional (i.e., U.S. House) district. At the time the indirect initiative process passed, Mississippi had five congressional districts, but the state lost one House seat in the reapportionment that followed the 2000 United States census. In the majority decision, Justice Josiah Coleman wrote, "Whether with intent, by oversight, or for some other reason, the drafters of section 273(3) wrote a ballot-initiative process that cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five representatives in Congress. To work in today's reality, it will need amending—something that lies beyond the power of the Supreme Court." Coleman added that from 2003 to 2015, the legislature had attempted six times to place an amendment on the ballot that would have changed the process to reflect Mississippi's current (and presumably future) House apportionment, but all attempts died in committee.

Referendum

Called Popular referendum, or alternatively Veto Referendum, Citizen referendum, Statute referendum, Statute remand, People's veto, or Citizen's veto, in which a predetermined number of signatures (typically lower than the number required for an initiative) qualifies a ballot measure for voting on repealing or not a specific state law. 23 states allow for citizens to initiate popular referendums, and one territory, the U.S. Virgin Islands. The popular referendum was first introduced in the United States by South Dakota in 1898,Arthur N. Holcombe, State Government in the United States, Read Books, 2007, , Google Print, p.141 and first used in 1906 in Oregon, two years after the first initiative was used in 1904, also in Oregon.Arthur N. Holcombe, State Government in the United States, Read Books, 2007, , Google Print, p.529

Legislative referral

Legislative referral, also known as legislative referendum, or referendum bill in the state of Washington for legislatively referred state statute, in which the legislature puts proposed legislation up for popular vote (either voluntarily or, in the case of a constitutional amendment, as an obligatory part of the procedure). With the exception of Delaware, 49 US states allow legislatively referred state constitutional amendments.

Statute affirmation Nevada is the only state to allow for statute affirmation. The statute affirmation allows the voters to collect signatures to place on ballot a question asking the state citizens to affirm a standing state law. If a majority vote to affirm the law, the state legislature will be barred from ever amending the law, and it can be amended or repealed only if approved by a majority of state citizens in a direct vote.

Automatic referrals

An automatic referral is question that is legally required to automatically be placed on the ballot. Many states have laws in their constitution requiring a question to hold a constitutional convention to appear before the voters after a scheduled amount of time.

Agricultural referendums