In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a public vote in the legislature in what is called indirect initiative, or under direct initiative, where the proposition is put to a plebiscite or referendum, in what is called a Popular initiated Referendum or citizen-initiated referendum.
The English-only movement, also known as the Official English movement, is a political movement that advocates for the use of only the English language in official United States government operations through the establishment of English as the only official language in the United States. The United States has never had a legal policy proclaiming an official national language. However, at some times and places, there have been various moves to promote or require the use of English, such as in Native American boarding schools.
A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, they can be appended to the constitution as supplemental additions, thus changing the frame of government without altering the existing text of the document.
In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place new legislation, or to place legislation that has recently been passed by a legislature on a ballot for a popular vote. Initiatives and referendums, along with recall elections and popular primary elections, are signature reforms of the Progressive Era; they are written into several state constitutions, particularly in the West. It is a form of direct democracy.
In Australia, referendums are public votes held on important issues where the electorate may approve or reject a certain proposal. The term is commonly used in reference to a constitutional referendum which is legally required to make a change to the Constitution of Australia.
The Constitution of the State of Ohio is the basic governing document of the State of Ohio, which in 1803 became the 17th state to join the United States of America. Ohio has had three constitutions since statehood was granted.
The Metropolitan Council is the legislative body of the consolidated city-county government of Nashville, Tennessee and Davidson County.
ProEnglish is an American nonprofit lobbying organization that is part of the English-only movement. The group supports making English the only official language of the United States. The group has also campaigned against immigration reform and bilingual education.
The Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1958 was a proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland to alter the electoral system from proportional representation under the single transferable vote (PR-STV) to first-past-the-post (FPTP). The proposal was rejected in a referendum held on 17 June 1959. This was the same date as the presidential election in which Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was elected as president.
Interactive representation is a proposed governance system in which elected officials have the same number of votes as the number of people that voted for them. It was proposed in Oregon in 1912 by William S. U'Ren and in Virginia in 2001 by Bill Redpath.
A constitutional referendum to amend the constitution of Latvia in order to allow one-tenth of the total registered electorate to initiate a popular referendum to dissolve the Latvian parliament was held in Latvia on 2 August 2008.
Proposition 1F of 2009 was a measure approved by California voters relating to the salaries of state officers. It was an amendment of the Constitution of California prohibiting pay raises for members of the State Legislature, the Governor, and other state officials during deficit years. It was proposed by the legislature and approved in a referendum held as part of the May 19, 2009 special election ballot, in which the California electorate also voted on five other propositions.
The Alliance for European Integration was a centre-right anti-communist ruling coalition in Moldova from the July 2009 election until it lost to a no confidence vote in the Parliament on February 13, 2013. It was succeeded by the anti-communist Pro-European Coalition.
A nationwide referendum was held in Moldova on 5 September 2010 on whether or not the country should amend the Constitution of Moldova to return to direct popular election of the president. Since 2001, the president had been indirectly elected by Parliament, with a supermajority of 61 seats required for election. The voters are asked to answer the following question: "Would you agree with the Constitutional amendment, which would allow the election of the President of the Republic of Moldova by the entire population?" Voters chose one of the proposed options: "Yes (for)" or "No (against)". Of those who had cast their vote, 87.83% chose "Yes". However, the referendum did not pass because only 30.29% of voters turned out, short of the necessary 33% for the referendum to be considered valid.
A constitutional referendum was held in American Samoa on November 2, 2010, on the same day of the United States House of Representatives election and American Samoan general election.
Charter Amendment One was a citizen-led referendum defeated in Gainesville, Florida's city election on March 24, 2009. Titled the "Amendment to the City Charter Prohibiting the City from Providing Certain Civil Rights," the measure would remove the legal protections not explicitly covered under the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, specifically with reference to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Referendums in the Philippines are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. Referendums can either by national or local in scope. In the Philippines, "referendums" and "plebiscites" mean different things.
A constitutional referendum was held in Taiwan on 26 November 2022. Voters voted on adding Article 1-1 to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China. If passed, the voting age would be lowered from 20 to 18 years. The amendment would also lower the minimum age of candidacy from 23 to 18 years, but would only have an effect once the relevant electoral laws are amended accordingly.
The 2022 Kansas abortion referendum was a rejected legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the Kansas Constitution that appeared on the ballot on August 2, 2022, alongside primary elections for statewide offices, with early voting from July 13. If enacted, the amendment would have declared that the Kansas Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion, given the Kansas state government power to prosecute individuals involved in abortions, and further declared that the Kansas government is not required to fund abortions.
