The Initiative and Referendum in California, 1898-1998 PDF Download
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Author: John M. Allswang
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804780072
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366
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Book Description
This book provides a detailed analytic history of direct legislation—the initiative and referendum—in California from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the present day. California was one of the first states to implement mechanisms for direct legislation, and these mechanisms have been used with growing frequency as the entire process has become professionalized (from signature-gathering through fund-raising to legal challenge and defense). The author studies this important political device in terms of voter interest and behavior, its role in public issues, and how it has affected the state’s politics and government. The book first analyzes how and why direct legislation came to California, seeing it as a typical example of the disconnected nature of progressive era reforms. It then studies selectively, from among the 300 propositions that have been on California ballots, those propositions that have been most relevant to the major issues of their time, have generated the highest levels of voter interest and participation, and have shaped the development of state politics and government. The author pays particular attention to the explosion of direct legislation, in frequency and consequence, since the Proposition 13 “property tax revolution” of 1978. He also describes how California’s contemporary direct legislation experience—from tax rebellion to harsher criminal justice to controversial ethnic issues—has had national ramifications. The book concludes with a careful analysis of the current state of the initiative and referendum in California: voter attitudes toward the process, its role as a “fourth branch” of government, and arguments for and against changes in the procedure. Based on extensive research in campaign documents, manuscript collections, the contemporary press, and other primary sources, the book also makes extensive use of voting data, public opinion polls, and official filings of campaign expenditures. All in all, it is the most comprehensive study ever made of a political process that is used today in twenty-seven states.
Author: John M. Allswang
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804780072
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book provides a detailed analytic history of direct legislation—the initiative and referendum—in California from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the present day. California was one of the first states to implement mechanisms for direct legislation, and these mechanisms have been used with growing frequency as the entire process has become professionalized (from signature-gathering through fund-raising to legal challenge and defense). The author studies this important political device in terms of voter interest and behavior, its role in public issues, and how it has affected the state’s politics and government. The book first analyzes how and why direct legislation came to California, seeing it as a typical example of the disconnected nature of progressive era reforms. It then studies selectively, from among the 300 propositions that have been on California ballots, those propositions that have been most relevant to the major issues of their time, have generated the highest levels of voter interest and participation, and have shaped the development of state politics and government. The author pays particular attention to the explosion of direct legislation, in frequency and consequence, since the Proposition 13 “property tax revolution” of 1978. He also describes how California’s contemporary direct legislation experience—from tax rebellion to harsher criminal justice to controversial ethnic issues—has had national ramifications. The book concludes with a careful analysis of the current state of the initiative and referendum in California: voter attitudes toward the process, its role as a “fourth branch” of government, and arguments for and against changes in the procedure. Based on extensive research in campaign documents, manuscript collections, the contemporary press, and other primary sources, the book also makes extensive use of voting data, public opinion polls, and official filings of campaign expenditures. All in all, it is the most comprehensive study ever made of a political process that is used today in twenty-seven states.
Author: M. Dane Waters
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781531013387
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1141
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Book Description
Author: R. Michael Alvarez
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815796275
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
Whether responding to a CNN.com survey or voting for the NFL All-Pro team, computer users are becoming more and more comfortable with Internet polls. Computer use in the United States continues to grow—more than half of all American households now have a personal computer. The next question, then, becomes obvious. Should Americans be able to use the Internet in the most important polls of all? Some advocates of Internet voting argue that Americans are well suited to casting their ballots online in political elections. They are eager to make use of new technology, and they have relatively broad access to the Internet. Voting would become easier for people stuck at home, at the office, or on the road. Internet voting might encourage greater political participation among young adults, a group that stays away from the polling place in droves. It would hold special appeal for military personnel overseas, whose ability to vote is a growing concern. There are serious concerns, however, regarding computer security and voter fraud, unequal Internet access across socioeconomic lines (the "digital divide"), and the civic consequences of moving elections away from schools and other polling places and into private homes and offices. After all, showing up to vote is the most public civic activity many Americans engage in, and it is often their only overt participation in the democratic process. In Point, Click, and Vote, voting experts Michael Alvarez and Thad Hall make a strong case for greater experimentation with Internet voting. In their words, "There is no way to know whether any argument regarding Internet voting is accurate unless real Internet voting systems are tested, and they should be tested in small-scale, scientific trials so that their successes and failures can be evaluated." In other words, you never know until you try, and it's time to try harder. The authors offer a realistic plan for putting pilot remote Internet voting programs into effect n
Author: Joseph F. Zimmerman
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438453396
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
The initiative is the product of the populist movement, which in the late nineteenth century sought to increase voter control of what were viewed as unrepresentative state and local governments. Today, twenty-four states allow registered voters to place proposed state laws on the referendum ballot, and eighteen states authorize voters to place proposed state constitutional amendments on the referendum ballot by collecting a specified number of valid voter signatures. Numerous local governments have a charter provision or a state law provision allowing voters to employ the popular lawmaking device. In The Initiative, Second Edition, Joseph F. Zimmerman traces the origin and spread of the initiative in the United States. The initiative has been a controversial device since first being introduced in South Dakota in 1898, with arguments both in support and in opposition. Zimmerman examines and evaluates both the legal foundation of the initiative, and the arguments against its use. He then concludes with a chapter that develops model constitutional, statutory, and local government charter provisions to assist jurisdictions and their voters contemplating adoption of the initiative or amendment of already existing constitutional, statutory, and charter initiative provisions.
Author: Frederick G. Whelan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351205854
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1396
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Book Description
Democracy in Theory and Practice presents an authoritative overview of democratic theory today. Its distinctive approach links theory to practice, emphasizing the wide variety of institutions and procedures through which core democratic principles are implemented and the normative and practical dimensions of the choices to be made among these alternatives. Designed for courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, the book features eighteen chapters organized thematically and divided into sections and subsections for easy reference; historical and current examples, citations for specific ideas, annotated references, and further readings throughout enhance the volume's utility for students, scholars, and researchers. Sidebars give biographical sketches of classic theorists and democratic ideas from the US founders and constitutional tradition. Featured topics discussed include: Majority Rule; Participation; Deliberation; Accountability; Representation; Constitutionalism; Electoral Laws; Parties; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Functions. The Boundary Problem; The "All-Affected" Principle; Contested Senses of Liberal and Procedural Democracy; The Pros and Cons of Term Limits; Proportional Representation; Referendums; Problems of Democratic Transparency and Reversibility. Written by a leading authority in the field, Frederick G. Whelan encourages us to think of the many alternative ways of putting democracy into practice and of these alternatives as requiring choices. This diversity means that there is no unique or correct democratic outcome from a given set of preferences, since outcomes are shaped by the methods followed in reaching them.
Author: Amy L. Stone
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816675473
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
From Boulder in 1974 to Maine Question 1 in 2009, the first comprehensive history of the LGBT movement's fight against anti-gay ballot measures
Author: Joseph F. Zimmerman
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438449259
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
In-depth study of the recall, the most important popular device allowing voters to remove unresponsive elected officials from office. The recall, or election in reverse, is meant to allow voters to remove an elected official from office prior to the completion of his/her term in office. In this revised second edition of The Recall, Joseph F. Zimmerman examines the rise of the recall in the United States and its use by American voters. Proponents of the recall believe the threat of removal from office would ensure that elected officials would act in accord with the publics will, while opponents fear their use would disrupt and inhibit public officers in the performance of their duties. Zimmerman provides a detailed analysis of how the recall has functioned in practice and discovers that the recall has seldom been employed against elected state officials. Although used more often against local government officials, the rate is still not exceptionally high when one considers the extremely large number of elected officials. After a century of use in the United States, the recall has not produced a new era of public official responsibility as hoped for by proponents, but neither has it caused extensive disruption of state and local governments, the original concern of early opponents.
Author: Joseph F. Zimmerman
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438449275
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
The recall, or "election in reverse," is meant to allow voters to remove an elected official from office prior to the completion of his/her term in office. In this revised second edition of The Recall, Joseph F. Zimmerman examines the rise of the recall in the United States and its use by American voters. Proponents of the recall believe the threat of removal from office would ensure that elected officials would act in accord with the public's will, while opponents fear their use would disrupt and inhibit public officers in the performance of their duties. Zimmerman provides a detailed analysis of how the recall has functioned in practice and discovers that the recall has seldom been employed against elected state officials. Although used more often against local government officials, the rate is still not exceptionally high when one considers the extremely large number of elected officials. After a century of use in the United States, the recall has not produced a new era of public official responsibility as hoped for by proponents, but neither has it caused extensive disruption of state and local governments, the original concern of early opponents.
Author: Lawrence LeDuc
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761972235
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284
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Book Description
`This excellent collection of essays provides a highly knowledgeable and insightful overview of current knowledge in the sub-field of elections and voting in the world's democracies. Coherent in organization and wide-ranging in content and perspective, this is a book that should be read by anyone interested in political science.' - Anthony Mughan, The Ohio State University In this major new edition the world's leading international scholars have again produced an indispensable guide and up-to-date review of the whole field. Each of the chapters (the majority of which are completely new) provide a broad theoretical and comparative understanding of all the key topics, making this essential reading for students and lecturers of elections and voting behavior, comparative politics, parties, and democracy.
Author: Mr Lawrence LeDuc
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1847871380
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
The first edition of Comparing Democracies was a landmark text, providing students with a thematic introduction to the global study of elections and voting. In this major new edition the world's leading international scholars have again produced an indispensable guide and up-to-date review of the whole field. Each of the chapters (the majority of which are completely new) provide a broad theoretical and comparative understanding of all the key topics associated with the elections including electoral and party systems, voter choice and turnout, campaign communications, and the new politics of direct democracy. This Second Edition will remain essential reading for students and lecturers of elections and voting behaviour, comparative politics, parties, and democracy.
