Suchergebnisse

Discusses the feasibility of conferring upon the governor the power to initiate petitions; the safeguarding of the initiative from fraud; power of the secretary of state to interfere with petitions; reference of vetoed measures to the people; effect of popular law-making upon administrative efficiency, etc.

Critics argue that direct legislation (initiatives & referendums) allows an electoral majority to undermine the interests & rights of racial & ethnic minorities. We assess this claim by examining outcomes of direct democracy in California since 1978. Our analysis indicates that critics have overstated the detrimental effects of direct democracy. Confirming earlier critiques, we find that racial & ethnic minorities -- particularly Latinos -- lose regularly on a small number of racially targeted propositions. However, these racially targeted propositions represent less than 5% of all ballot propositions. When we consider outcomes across all propositions, we find that the majority of Latino, Asian American, & African American voters were on the winning side of the vote. This remains true if we confine our analysis to propositions on which racial & ethnic minorities vote cohesively or to propositions on issues that racial & ethnic minorities say they care most about. 6 Tables, 47 References. Adapted from the source document.