Anne Whitesell in The Conversation: ‘Voters don’t always have final say – state legislatures and governors are increasingly undermining ballot measures that win’
It is becoming increasingly common for lawmakers across the country to not only ignore the will of the people but also actively work against it, according to Whitesell, an American politics scholar
Anne Whitesell in The Conversation: ‘Voters don’t always have final say – state legislatures and governors are increasingly undermining ballot measures that win’
In American democracy, the people expect to have a voice, whether that comes through electing representatives or directly voting on issues, writes Anne Whitesell, assistant professor of Political Science and associate director of the Menard Family Center for Democracy, “Yet it is becoming increasingly common for lawmakers across the country to not only ignore the will of the people, but also actively work against it. From 2010 to 2015, about 21% of citizen initiatives were altered by lawmakers after they passed. From 2016 to 2018, lawmakers altered nearly 36% of passed citizen initiatives.”
Whitesell is an American politics scholar who studies the connection between representation and public policy.
The citizen initiative process varies by state, but in general, citizens collect signatures to have an issue put directly on the ballot for the voters to voice their preferences. Nearly half the states, 24 of them, allow citizen initiatives.
Read her article Voters don’t always have final say – state legislatures and governors are increasingly undermining ballot measures that win in The Conversation (Jan. 9).
