Ballot measure

From Ballotpedia

Ballot measure is a broad, generic term used to describe questions or issues that appear on ballots where voters can approve or reject them.

Ballot measures can be:

• Local (covering a school district, city, county, or a special tax district)
• Statewide.

Ballot measures can embody:

• A proposed constitutional amendment or city charter.
• A statute.
• Approval for a special tax or bond issue.
• Recall campaigns are sometimes referred to as ballot measures, although they pertain to candidates.

Paths to the ballot

States with initiative or referendum

Ballot measures get on the ballot through very different paths. Initiative and referendum, often abbreviated as "I&R", is the catch-all phrase for ballot measures that get on ballots through a signature collection process of some kind.

Only about half of the American states allow their citizens to place a measure on the ballot through the collection of signatures.

However, every state has some mechanism through which measures of some kind can make their way onto the ballot of that state. This can include legislative referrals and constitutional amendment validation procedures, as well as bond issues or tax proposals placed before the state's voters by a vote of the state legislature.

In other words, a general election ballot in any American state might include ballot measures of one kind or another. However, only in half the states would any of those ballot measures be there courtesy of a petition drive.

Citizen initiatives to amend constitutions and change state laws

In the classic ballot initiative, the supporters of a new constitutional amendment or a statute are required to collect valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. Once the signatures are collected and have successfully survived the signature certification process in the state in question, the measure is then determined by one or more state offices to be eligible to appear on the ballot. There is usually a period of time between the determination that the measure is eligible for the ballot and the printing of the ballots. It is not uncommon for political opponents of the particular citizen initiative to sue the state's election officers or Secretary of State to demand that--for whatever reasons the opponents bring forward--the measure not be placed on the ballot. If any such legal challenges are unsuccessful, the ballots are printed, and it proceeds to a vote of the people.

The veto, or citizen, referendum

Main article: Veto referendum

In the case of a veto referendum--which is sometimes also called a citizen referendum or a statute referendum--a state legislature passes a bill. People who oppose that new bill (or statute) then may--if they live in a state that allows this--collect enough signatures to force the measure to a vote of the people. Groups who oppose a new bill would be motivated to go to the trouble of a petition drive to collect the needed valid signatures if they believe that the state's voters would reject a piece of legislation that the state's legislators approved; or, in other words, if they believe the state legislature is out-of-step with the will of the people in the matter at hand.

Legislative referrals

In the case of a legislative referral, in states that allow this, the state legislature may not wish--or the votes may not exist--to directly pass a new bill. However, there may be enough votes in the legislature to order that the measure to placed before the people as a ballot measure. If a special interest group that supports a controversial ballot measure has enough support in the state legislature to persuade the legislature to put the measure to a vote of the people, the proponents can avoid the considerable expense of a petition drive. Legislative referrals thus start out in life with the advantage of not having to spend their campaign treasury on a petition drive.

Bond issues and tax proposals

In some states, the state legislature is not allowed to pass new taxes or spending increases beyond a certain level without putting the tax increase or spending increase to a vote of the people. Where that is the case, as in Maine, the state legislature votes to place a Bond issue or tax proposal before the voters.

Types of ballot measures

Bond issue Veto referendum Legislative referral Constitutional convention Indirect initiative

Automatic ballot referral Initiated state statute Indirect initiated state statute Indirect initiative amendment

Grand jury by petition Commission-referred constitutional amendment Legislatively-referred state statute Legislatively-referred constitutional amendment

See also

• Forms of direct democracy in the American states