How Americans can independently vote on various issues

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Earlier this year, mobile flash mob members dressed up in party hats and dancing to the Dolly Parton song “From 9 to 5” went to fast food stations, gas stations and stores in Auguste, Maine, to inform their employees about the possibility of upgrading hourly rate.

Members of the event organization, calling on the authorities to allow state voters to decide whether the state’s minimum wage should be gradually increased to 12 dollars per hour by 2020.

In most cases, when Americans vote, they elect officials who will legislate and enforce them. However, twenty-four states and Washington provide for citizens the opportunity to bypass the legislators and independently vote on various issues through initiatives and a referendum.

Usually, a question is put to a vote with the help of a petition of citizens with a sufficient number of signatures. In California, where this procedure is most common, you need to collect 365 880 signatures.

“Nowadays, it is becoming part of the culture,” said John Matsusaka, director of the Institute of Initiatives and Referenda at the University of Southern California. - People understand that the formation of state policy in these states is impossible without the participation of voters. Therefore, if groups of citizens do not like what the legislature does, they can decide to immediately put this or that issue to a vote. ”

Voters may be subject to a wide variety of issues: from the amount of taxes (for example, in Maine) to the goals for which they will be spent. Cincinnati residents once voted on whether tax revenues should be used to build a new elephant in a city zoo. Controversial issues are sometimes easier to put to the vote, as citizens with enthusiasm and energy, as well as with a sufficient number of like-minded neighbors usually collect the required number of signatures.

Matsusaka notes that proponents of putting issues to the ballot typically believe that elected leaders do not always follow the will of the voters: “In such situations, they argue, it is good for democracy to allow voters to come in and fix the situation. This is the main argument.” Opponents of such a system, he adds, fear that policies favored by the simple majority may ignore the needs of minorities."

As expected, in 2016, a vote will be taken from 150 to 200 proposals. Californians will vote on whether to approve recently introduced ban on plastic bags in stores. Missouri voters may be given the opportunity to decide whether to limit the amount of money received by political candidates and their committees. Large and small initiatives put to the vote allow Americans to directly influence the future of their localities and regions.

Or, as happened in 1997, with a tiny town in Virginia, and completely abandon local government. When residents of Kaslwood voted in a referendum to end their city, it was absorbed by the district.

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