From Ballotpedia
| Citizen initiatives Indirect initiative Legislative referrals Convention referrals |
| Citizen initiatives Indirect initiative Legislative referrals |
The generally acknowledged forms of direct democracy at the statewide level are the legislatively referred constitutional amendment, the legislatively referred state statute, the initiated state statute [direct or indirect], the initiated constitutional amendment, the veto referendum [sometimes called the citizen referendum or the statute referendum], the statute affirmation [available only in Nevada], and statewide recall.
- Eight states enable the six most common forms of direct democracy. Those states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana, Nevada [which also has the statute affirmation], North Dakota and Oregon.
- The chart below does not include the statute affirmation as a category since it is only available in one state. The chart also doesn't include the form of direct democracy under which citizen petitions can be used to impanel grand juries, an option that exists in six states.
- The chart below also does not include local direct democracy, such as initiated ordinances, initiated charter amendments, or town meetings.
- Delaware is the only state in which voter approval is not required for constitutional amendments passed by the legislature.
- Note that research on which states allow legislatively referred state statutes and under what terms has not been verified by multiple sources and in the view of Ballotpedia staff as of March 2011, needs additional exploration.[1]
- Florida has a Constitution Revision Commission [CRC], which may refer constitutional amendments to the ballot, that meets every 20 years on the following schedule: 1977, 1997, 2017, 2037, 2057, and so on. It last met in 2017 and referred constitutional amendments to the 2018 ballot. Florida also has a Taxation and Budget Reform Commission that can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot.
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| TOTALS | 24 | 49 | 21 | 18 | 23 | 18 |
Footnotes
- ↑ Readers who are familiar with laws governing legislatively referred state statutes in one or more states can help Ballotpedia's research on this by sending an email to . Thank you!
- ↑ On May 14, 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Initiative 65, the 2020 medical marijuana initiative. The ruling stated that the initiative petition did not comply with the signature distribution requirements in the Mississippi Constitution and that it is impossible for any petition to meet the requirements and has been impossible since congressional reapportionment in 2001. The court said the process requirements would need amended in the state constitution for an initiative to qualify for the ballot in Mississippi.
| General terms | Initiated state statute • Initiated constitutional amendment • Indirect initiative • Indirect initiated state statute • Indirect initiative amendment • Indirect initiative • Legislative referral • Legislatively referred state statute • Legislatively referred constitutional amendment • Commission referral • Automatic ballot referral • Veto referendum • Constitutional convention • Convention referral • Bond issue • Recall • Advisory question | |
| State-specific terms | Bond Propositions [California] • Initiatives to the Legislature [Washington] • Initiatives to the People [Washington] • Referendum Bill [Washington] • Statute affirmation [Nevada] • Referendum Election [Navajo Nation] | |
| Local terms | City council ballot referral • Initiated city charter amendment • Initiated city ordinance • Grand jury • Redevelopment and Housing Authority Referendum [Virginia] • Reverse referendum [Minnesota] • Tax rate recall referendum [Kentucky] |