(C) Wisconsin Watch This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Wisconsin ballot referendums: Why can't citizens request them? [1] ['Jack Kelly', 'Wisconsin Watch', 'More Jack Kelly', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width'] Date: 2023-10-18 11:00:00+00:00 Reading Time: < 1 minute Wisconsin Watch readers have submitted questions to our statehouse team, and we’ll answer them in our series, Ask Wisconsin Watch. Have a question about state government? Ask it here. Question: “Why are we, as citizens, not able to request a ballot referendum?” Neither the state constitution nor state statutes provide an avenue for Wisconsinites to bypass the Legislature via a petition to enact — or reject — a new state law or amend the constitution, and it’s been that way since Wisconsin became a state in 1848. While there is also not a way for voters to create or change laws or amend the constitution at the national level, 24 states do have a process for voters to enact or reject laws or amend the constitution via statewide votes, including Michigan and Ohio. A constitutional amendment that would have created a ballot initiative process for Wisconsinites was put before voters in November 1914 — before women’s suffrage — but voters at the time rejected the amendment, with 64% voting against it, according to a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau. Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, supports allowing voters to bring their own ballot initiatives. In September 2022, in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, he called a special session of the Legislature to consider a constitutional amendment that would create a process for voters to trigger statewide referendums. Republican lawmakers ended that special session in seconds without considering the amendment. Wisconsin law requires voters to weigh in via referendum in three instances: ratifying or rejecting constitutional amendments, “any authorization of statewide debt in excess of constitutional limits” and extending “the right to vote to additional classes of people,” according to LRB. Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles for free using the following ground rules. Credit should be given, in this format: “By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch” Editing material is prohibited, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and in-house style (for example, using “Waunakee, Wis.” instead of “Waunakee” or changing “yesterday” to “last week”) Other than minor cosmetic and font changes, you may not change the structural appearance or visual format of a story. If published online, you must include the links and link to wisconsinwatch.org If you share the story on social media, please mention @wisconsinwatch (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), and ensure that the original featured image associated with the story is visible on the social media post. Don’t sell the story or any part of it — it may not be marketed as a product. Don’t extract, store or resell Wisconsin Watch content as a database. Don’t sell ads against the story. But you can publish it with pre-sold ads. Your website must include a prominent way to contact you. Additional elements that are packaged with our story must be labeled. Users can republish our photos, illustrations, graphics and multimedia elements ONLY with stories with which they originally appeared. You may not separate multimedia elements for standalone use. If we send you a request to change or remove Wisconsin Watch content from your site, you must agree to do so immediately. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles forusing the following ground rules. For questions regarding republishing rules please contact Jeff Bauer, digital editor and producer, at jbauer@wisconsinwatch.org Citizens’ inability to request ballot referendum dates to Wisconsin’s founding

Citizens’ inability to request ballot referendum dates to Wisconsin’s founding

by Jack Kelly / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
October 18, 2023


Question: “Why are we, as citizens, not able to request a ballot referendum?”

Neither the state constitution nor state statutes provide an avenue for Wisconsinites to bypass the Legislature via a petition to enact — or reject — a new state law or amend the constitution, and it’s been that way since Wisconsin became a state in 1848.

While there is also not a way for voters to create or change laws or amend the constitution at the national level, 24 states do have a process for voters to enact or reject laws or amend the constitution via statewide votes, including Michigan and Ohio.

A constitutional amendment that would have created a ballot initiative process for Wisconsinites was put before voters in November 1914 — before women’s suffrage — but voters at the time rejected the amendment, with 64% voting against it, according to a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.

Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, supports allowing voters to bring their own ballot initiatives. In September 2022, in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, he called a special session of the Legislature to consider a constitutional amendment that would create a process for voters to trigger statewide referendums. Republican lawmakers ended that special session in seconds without considering the amendment.

Wisconsin law requires voters to weigh in via referendum in three instances: ratifying or rejecting constitutional amendments, “any authorization of statewide debt in excess of constitutional limits” and extending “the right to vote to additional classes of people,” according to LRB.

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