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LEGISLATIVE INACTION AND DISSATISFACTION WITH ONE-PARTY CONTROL LEAD
TO MORE ISSUES GOING DIRECTLY TO VOTERS IN BALLOT INITIATIVES, WITH
60% OF THEM IN SIX STATES  
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Thom Reilly
March 21, 2024
The Conversation
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_ Citizen-led ballot measures in recent years have been used in
various states to expand Medicaid, preserve abortion rights and raise
minimum wages. The most common topic for veto referendums over the
years has been taxation. _

A home in rural Bingham, Maine, displays signs protesting a
Quebec-to-New England hydropower corridor that voters rejected in a
referendum vote., AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

 

Recent polls
[[link removed]]
show Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with their system of
representative democracy, in which they choose candidates to represent
their interests once in office.

When available, voters have bypassed their elected representatives and
enacted laws by using direct democracy tools such as ballot
initiatives and veto referendums
[[link removed]]. Ballot
initiatives allow citizens or legislatures to propose policies for
voter approval, while veto referendums permit challenges to
legislative action.

The number of initiatives and veto referendums proposed nationally has
been fairly stable over the past two decades. Over the past five years
[[link removed]],
however, lawmakers have increasingly adopted measures making it harder
to get these initiatives and referendums on the ballot.

Citizen-led ballot measures in recent years
[[link removed]] have been
used in various states to expand Medicaid, preserve abortion rights
and raise minimum wages. The most common topic for veto referendums
[[link removed]] over
the years has been taxation.

America’s founders were wary of direct democracy
[[link removed]] and what they
felt was the risk of the tyranny of the majority
[[link removed]], a situation
wherein the majority places its own interests above the interests of a
minority. Scholars have found that these direct democracy tools have
disproportionately been used to promote conservative policies
[[link removed]]
over progressive ones. They also note the potential threats direct
democracy poses to democratic rights
[[link removed]].

There is growing evidence, however, that these direct democracy tools
are increasingly being used in a more broadly representative manner
[[link removed]]. And these measures often
address a variety of progressive policies. Arizona, my home state,
provides an interesting case study.

Mostly Western states

The citizen initiative and veto referendum process varies by state. In
general, citizens collect signatures to have an issue placed directly
on the ballot for the voters to decide.

Just half the states
[[link removed]] allow
citizens to directly engage in this kind of policymaking. Twenty-four
states allow some form of initiative, and 26 allow for referendums
[[link removed]]. The
majority of these states allow both the initiative and veto
referendum.

Most states that equip their citizens with direct democracy tools are
in the West. About 60% of all initiative activity occurs in six states
[[link removed].]:
Arizona, California, Colorado, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington.
The states with the most veto referendums
[[link removed]] are
North Dakota, Oregon and California.

Initially, Eastern and Southern states
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left out these direct democracy tools from their state constitutions
primarily out of fear that direct democracy would empower Black people
and immigrants.

Direct democracy tools found fertile ground in the Midwest and West
during the populist and progressive movements
[[link removed].]
of the late 19th century. As these territories became states, they
often built these instruments into their state constitutions.

A total of 2,536 citizen initiative measures
[[link removed]] advanced in
the 24 states that allow them from 2000 to 2023, with 1,631, or
approximately two-thirds passing.

Defaulting to direct democracy

Two trends are reshaping the use of initiatives and referendums.

The first is the continued partisan polarization
[[link removed]]
in the U.S. and voters’ frustration with the two-party system and
the parties themselves.

Most Americans want their elected officials to compromise on important
public policy issues
[[link removed]],
but the two major parties are increasingly embracing an uncompromising
mindset that undermines their ability to address important public
issues. I explore [[link removed]] this in the
book I co-authored with colleagues Jacqueline Salit and Omar Ali,
“The Independent Voter
[[link removed]].”

Second, many states are now controlled by one party. Forty states are
currently under trifecta partisan control
[[link removed]] – where one
party dominates the governor’s office, House and Senate. By
population, only 17.4% of Americans are living in states with divided
state government.

When elected officials are unwilling or unable to compromise, and the
majority of U.S. citizens are living in states where there is
consolidated control of government by a major party, important
problems can go unaddressed.

‘Essential to a truly functioning democracy’

[A woman at a protest holding a sign that says '750,000+ signed! Let
us vote.']
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Pro-choice supporters gather outside the Michigan State Capitol on
Sept. 7, 2022, after Michigan’s elections board rejected a voter
initiative that would have enshrined abortion rights in the state
Constitution. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
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The history of direct democracy tools in Arizona, where I live,
provides an interesting example of how these tools have been used in a
broadly representative manner.

In preparation for becoming a state, the framers of Arizona’s
Constitution
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in 1910 wanted legislators to be the primary method of making laws,
but they were concerned that legislators might not act on key issues.
They viewed the initiative and referendum as essential parts of a
functioning democracy, in which citizens could get around legislative
inaction.

During Arizona’s constitutional convention in 1910, the Los Angeles
Express
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newspaper urged its neighbor to push for direct democracy: “Let not
Arizona be deterred from its purposes by menaces of the reactionaries
or threats from such errant boys of big business… Let it write the
initiative, the referendum, direct primaries, and the recall into the
constitution and arm its people forever with the power of complete
self-government.”

Ballot initiatives have been used by every kind of group for all kinds
of purposes in the state. They have been passed both to increase and
to curb public spending. Measures approved by voters have opposed
[[link removed]] affirmative
action and immigrants’ access to state and local funds.

Other ballot measures
[[link removed]] increased
the minimum wage, established a redistricting commission to combat
gerrymandering and allowed the use of medical and recreational
marijuana.

In 2024, initiatives likely to appear on the ballot include measures
to expand abortion access
[[link removed](2024)]
and mandate open primaries [[link removed]].

While many state legislative bodies have been overturning or altering
voter initiatives
[[link removed]],
citizens in Arizona prevented this from taking place.

Arizonans passed a unique voter-initiated constitutional amendment in
1998 known as the Voter Protection Act
[[link removed]].
It prohibits a governor’s veto or legislative repeal of any
voter-passed initiative.

The procedures to put such initiatives and referendums to vote,
however, are still largely controlled by the state Legislature.
Arizona lawmakers have been successful passing legislation
[[link removed]]
leading to a significant increase in rejected signatures. Because a
certain number of signatures are required to get an initiative or
referendum on the ballot, such legislation makes it harder to do that.

Direct democracy tools such as the ballot initiative and veto
referendum have provided Arizonans with important alternatives to
enacting public policy when elected representatives failed to do so.
And these measures are being used to address a range of public policy
issues, both conservative and liberal. Arizona can serve as a role
model for how direct democracy can work for the rest of the
states.[The Conversation]

Thom Reilly
[[link removed]], Professor
& Co-Director, Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy,
School of Public Affairs, _Arizona State University
[[link removed]]_

This article is republished from The Conversation
[[link removed]] under a Creative Commons license. Read
the original article
[[link removed]].

* elections
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* ballot referendums
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* democracy
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* representation
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* legislation
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