Initiative and Referendum Process | Civics 101

The process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place new legislation on a popular ballot, or to place legislation that has recently been passed by a legislature on a ballot for a popular vote. Nebraska has placed 48 initiatives on statewide ballots between 1914 and the end of 2014. One famous example was the 1914 women’s suffrage initiative, defeated by a 52.4 percent negative vote of the all-male electorate.