Ballot Initiatives

Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, activists clamoring for social justice have used ballot initiatives in the American states to advance their progressive causes. The initiative is one of the three mechanisms of direct democracy (along with the popular referendum and the recall).

Originating in Switzerland, direct democracy was imported to the United States during the 1890s, the heyday of the populist movement. Of the three mechanisms, the initiative is by far the most widely used. It allows citizens to participate directly in the making of public policy by casting their votes on ballot measures. In order to place either a statutory or a constitutional [Page 217]amendment measure on the ballot for fellow citizens to adopt or reject, a specified number of valid signatures must be collected by petition. Activists for social justice, of course, do not hold a monopoly on the initiative process; corporate interests along with social conservatives also place initiatives on the ballot and have done so with considerable success.

Most of the two dozen states that allow the initiative process today adopted the mechanism during the early 20th century. The practice of direct democracy grew out of the doctrines put forth by the Populist (People's) Party, the single-taxers led by Henry George, and the Farmers' Alliance during the late 19th century. In 1898, the citizens of South Dakota became the first in the Union to adopt the initiative, and in 1904, citizens in Oregon were the first to collect signatures to successfully qualify initiatives for the ballot. The number of statewide initiatives on the ballot increased rapidly during the 1910s but tapered off after World War I. Use of the process regained popularity in the 1970s.

Along with Henry George, social reformers James W. Sullivan of New Jersey, John Randolph Haynes of California, Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado, and William S. U'Ren of Oregon, were all early proponents of the mechanisms of direct democracy. Many progressive politicians also aligned themselves with the effort in the states to adopt direct democracy. Republican U.S. Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr. from Oregon and several Progressive governors (both Republicans and Democrats, including California's Hiram Johnson) were outspoken advocates of the “People's Rule,” as the initiative was often called. Perhaps most prominently, former president Teddy Roosevelt stumped in 1912 for the adoption of direct democracy, maintaining that the initiative could serve as an institutional check on unresponsive state legislatures. If legislators failed to recognize or respond to the wishes of the public, citizens could resort to direct action by passing initiatives that either amended the state constitution or enacted a statute. Woodrow Wilson, an erstwhile critic of the process, eventually jumped on the direct democracy bandwagon during the 1912 presidential campaign, calling the initiative a gun behind the door that could persuade legislators to act in accordance to the wishes of the people.

Once states adopted the initiative, progressive activists used ballot initiatives to call for numerous issues promoting social justice, after being rebuffed by political party bosses who were in cahoots with corporate interests and controlled the agendas of the state legislatures. Self-styled Progressive Era reformers in numerous states placed initiatives on the ballot calling for women's suffrage, the direct primary, the direct election of U.S. senators, the abolition of the poll tax, home rule for cities and towns, 8-hour work days for women and minors, and the regulation of public utility and railroad monopolies. Voters adopted many of these measures on election day. In circumventing their co-opted state legislatures, these reformers used the initiative to advance public policy that promoted transparency in public life, equal economic opportunity, and broader social welfare.

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