Every two years, citizens across the U.S. manage to place some eye-catching measures on state election ballots, posing questions to voters that can be divisive and sometimes historic. But more than half of states offer no such opportunity.
Twenty-four states โ mostly in the Western half of the country โ have ways for citizens to bypass the Legislature by gathering signatures and taking proposals directly to voters. In one of those states, Illinois, the process is so restrictive that only one citizen initiative has ever passed.
In the other 26 states, thereโs no option for ballot measures โ and no sign that politicians are eager to create one.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the first state to adopt the initiative process was South Dakota in 1898. Since then, 23 other states have followed suit, but none since Mississippi in 1992.
โOverall, the breakdown isnโt changing,โ said Patrick Potyondy, the NCSLโs legislative policy specialist. โWhatever state youโre from, you think your process is normal.โ
States with an initiative process include liberal bastions such as California and conservative strongholds such as Idaho. Thereโs similar diversity with non-initiative states, which include Republican-controlled Texas and Democratic-dominated New York.
In the 1970s and โ80s, some leading Texas Republicans favored creating an initiative process, and until 1994 that stance was part of the state GOPโs platform. With Republicans in full control of state government since then, thereโs been no serious discussion at the statehouse of allowing citizen initiatives.
โIt hasnโt been talked about for 20 years,โ said Republican Jerry Patterson, who served three terms as state land commissioner. โIf youโre out of government, youโre in favor of initiatives. If youโre in government, they become not so appealing.โ
Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said the initiative process became entrenched in many Western states during the progressive area of the early 1900s.
โIt was part of the reaction to political party corruption to allow citizens to directly offer initiatives,โ he said. โTexas has always been more skeptical of citizen involvement. … The lawmakers and lobbyists think the deals they cut are preferable to any decision the voters might make.โ
At New Yorkโs statehouse, thereโs been little serious discussion of the initiative process since Republican George Pataki touted the concept during his tenure as governor from 1995 to 2006. With the Legislature and major labor unions opposing any change, it would likely take a constitutional convention to allow it, but 83 percent of voters in 2016 rejected holding such a convention.
Likewise, in the states that allow citizen initiatives, thereโs been no serious talk of abandoning the process.
California has placed more than 370 citizen initiatives on its ballot since adopting the process in 1911, with about one-third winning approval. In contrast, Illinois has voted on a policy-making initiative only once, in 1980, when voters reduced the Legislatureโs size from 177 members to 118.
Initiatives in Illinois can be used only to change the structure and function of the Legislature, said Matt Dietrich, spokesman for the state election board.
Craig Burnett, a political science professor at Hofstra University on Long Island, said powerful politicians in non-initiative states generally donโt want to give citizens a means of bypassing lawmakers. But overall, he said, the initiative process is popular wherever it exists.
โIt can be misused or manipulated โ it can be a little silly at times,โ he said. โBut on the whole, it ends up being a positive avenue for voters to express themselves.โ