In the United States, 26 states have approved constitutional amendments permitting citizen-initiated ballot issues. Because state constitutional amendments require voter approval, save in Delaware, implementing ballot initiative processes necessitates ballot measures from either state legislatures or constitutional conventions. The majority of these amendments emerged during the progressive and populist movements of the 1890s and 1920s.
Beginning in 1898, voters in 30 states approved 42 constitutional amendments to establish state initiative and referendum systems. The average vote on a constitutional amendment to establish an initiative or referendum process was 68.25% ‘Yes’ and 31.75% ‘No’.
- South Dakota was the first state to use an initiative and referendum process in 1898. Between 1898 and 1918, 22 states adopted amendments over a two-decade span.
- After 1918, no constitutional changes to establish an initiative or referendum procedure appeared on the ballot until 1956, when Alaskans established a state constitution that incorporated both. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, two constitutional amendments were on the ballot each decade.
- Mississippi is the most recent state to enact a constitutional amendment allowing for the initiative process in 1992. Since then, no constitutional amendments have been proposed on the ballot to create an initiative or referendum procedure.
- Voters in 30 states chose on constitutional modifications to establish initiative and referendum processes, and voters in 26 states approved them.
- Nebraska Amendment 1 in 1912 won the widest margin for a constitutional amendment, receiving 92.51% of the vote. Wisconsin Question 2 of 1914 had the largest margin of defeat, receiving 36.38% of the vote.Massachusetts Question 1 in 1918 had the smallest winning margin, with a vote of 51.28% to 48.72%. Texas Proposition 1 of 1914 had the smallest losing margin, with a vote of 48.29% to 51.71%.
- The four states that voted on constitutional amendments to establish initiative and referendum processes but never approved one are Minnesota, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin.
- In Minnesota, voters defeated constitutional amendments in three elections: 1914, 1916, and 1980.
Voters in three states—Mississippi, Missouri, and Wyoming—rejected constitutional amendments before approving amendments on second attempts.
Timeline of initiative and referendum ballot measures
In 1898, South Dakota became the first state to vote on and approve a constitutional amendment establishing a state initiative and referendum system. The amendment allowed for initiated state statutes and veto referendums. South Dakotans would also get the ability to propose constitutional amendments in 1972.
Between 1900 and 1909, voters in eight states approved nine constitutional amendments that established initiative and referendum processes. Utah was the second state to ratify an amendment in 1900, and Oregon was the third in 1902. Within the last decade, voters in Maine, Montana, and Nevada have also approved amendments. Oklahoma adopted the initiative and referendum procedure in its initial constitution, and Michigan voters passed a revised constitution that contained the initiative and referendum.
Missouri was the first state to vote against a constitutional amendment allowing for initiative and referendum in 1904. The result was 40.61% ‘Yes’ to 59.39% ‘No.’ However, voters adopted a constitutional amendment four years later, in 1908.
Non-binding questions about establishing an initiative and referendum mechanism in Illinois and Delaware appeared during the decade. Although both non-binding questions were accepted, Illinois did not implement an initiative mechanism until 1970, and Delaware never did.
The 1910s saw the most constitutional amendments establishing initiative and referendum systems, with 24 in 18 states.
In 1912, more constitutional modifications were submitted to establish the initiative and referendum processes than in any previous year. Amendments were approved by voters in Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, and Washington. Mississippi and Wyoming rejected constitutional amendments that earned a majority of votes but did not reach the states’ supermajority criteria.
Mississippi voters adopted a constitutional amendment two years later, in 1914. However, in 1922, the Mississippi Supreme Court declared the ballot proposition unlawful, ruling that including both begun state statutes and initiated constitutional amendments in the same measure was unconstitutional.
North Dakotans enacted constitutional amendments in 1914 that established initiated state statutes and referendums, as well as initiated constitutional amendments. Texas and Wisconsin voters rejected constitutional changes in 1914. In Minnesota, constitutional amendments were lost in 1914 and 1916 because, although receiving a majority of votes, they failed to meet the state’s threshold of a majority of all ballots cast in the election.
In 1915, Maryland voters adopted a constitutional amendment establishing a veto referendum process. In 1918, Massachusetts voters enacted a constitutional amendment allowing for initiative and referendum.
For the next 38 years following 1918, no new constitutional amendments establishing initiative and referendum processes were put to voters.
Alaskan voters established a state constitution in 1956, which included the initiative and referendum process. In 1968, Floridians accepted a revamped constitution that includes the initiative and referendum procedures. In Wyoming, 56 years after an amendment was lost in 1912, the legislature put a second amendment on the ballot, and voters adopted it in 1968.
In 1970, Illinois voters ratified a rewritten constitution, which established a procedure for initiating constitutional modifications confined to “structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV.”
In South Dakota, the first state to implement an initiative and referendum procedure in 1898, voters enacted Amendment E, which expanded the initiative power to include citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in 1972.
Minnesota voters considered Amendment 5 in 1980, the state’s third initiative and referendum amendment. The amendment garnered a majority of votes cast on the measure, as it had in 1914 and 1916, but it fell short of the state’s requirement of a majority of all ballots cast in the election.
In 1986, Rhode Island voters rejected Question 5, which would have allowed for citizen-initiated ballot measures and other improvements. In 1996, voters approved a nonbinding question about initiatives.
Mississippi was the most recent state to vote on and enact a constitutional amendment establishing an initiative procedure, in 1992. The ballot initiative, named Amendment 8, received 70.22% of the vote. The constitutional amendment imposed a signature distribution requirement based on five congressional districts.
However, the Mississippi Supreme Court says the conditions cannot be met because the state had four congressional districts after reapportionment in 2001. While Mississippi’s constitutional amendment establishing the initiative process remains valid, the signature distribution threshold cannot be completed, prohibiting proposals from being approved for the vote.
