Understanding ballot measures: a simple guide

By Sydney Armstrong, Delta College Student Submission

Have you ever gone down a road full of potholes? Or noticed your local school being run down and needing updates? Do you want all those things to change but aren’t sure how to help? In this post, we are going to explore what ballot measures are and why your vote matters in local elections.

First thing’s first, let’s talk about ballot measures. Ballot measures are laws that are issued or placed on a statewide or municipal ballot in the United States for voters to decide through an election. These ballots are typically put forth by citizen initiatives, government legislature or a local government. When it comes to ballot measures, there are three distinct kinds: the Citizen-Initiated, legislative referendums and the recalls. Citizen-initiated refers to initiatives created by citizens to place new laws or change existing laws. For this to happen, you must have a certain number of signatures from citizens. This is a legislative procedure, so if it is bypassed it allows groups to directly propose policies.

Referendums are public petitions that propose to abolish a prior law passed by the legislature on the ballot known as a referendum. This means that referendums allow voters like you to decide on current laws/policies. Referendums are important as they can decide if a legislation/policy could be changed or approved.

Recalls are legislative measures that decide if a proposal is placed on a ballot. So as a citizen, you can remove elected officials by using recall procedures. A recall is usually used when the elected officials were wrongdoers, failed to uphold their duties or acted incompetently. 

Ballot measures are one of the main elements that make our democracy so great. They also give voters like you and me the ability to participate in the legislative process and influence public policies.