Rules gov of state not more than ninety days after the final adjournment of erning Direct the session of the legislature which passed the bill on which the Legislation. Referendum on parts of an act. Powers Protective legislation. referendum is demanded. The veto power of the Governor shall not extend to measures voted on by the people. All elections on measures referred to the people of the state shall be had at the next election held throughout the state, except when the legislature or the Governor shall order a special election for the express purpose of making such reference. Any measure referred to the people by the initiative shall take effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a majority of the votes cast in such election. Any measure referred to the people by the referendum shall take effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and not otherwise. The style of all bills shall be: "Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oklahoma." Petitions and orders for the initiativ e and for the referendum shall be filed with the secretary of state and addressed to the Governor of the state, who shall submit the same to the people. The legislature shall make suitable provisions for carrying into effect the provisions of this article. Section 4. The referendum may be demanded by the people against one or more items, sections, or parts of any act of the legislature in the same manner in which such power may be exercised against a complete act. The filing of a referendum petition against one or more items, sections, or parts of an act shall not delay the remainder of such act from becoming operative. ... Section 6. Any measure rejected by the people, through the powers of the initiative and referendum, cannot be again proposed by the initiative within three years thereafter by less than twenty-five per centum of the legal voters. Section 7. The reservation of the powers of the initiative and referendum in this article shall not deprive the legislature of the right to repeal any law, propose or pass any measure, which may be consistent with the constitution of the state and the Constitution of the United States. Section 8. Laws shall be provided to prevent corruption in making, procuring, and submitting initiative and referendum petitions. 220. Initiative and Referendum petitions1 accompany ing the Ini tiative and Referendum. In every state in which the Initiative and Referendum are found, Protective laws have been enacted to regulate the application of these devices. legislation The act passed by the legislature of Missouri in 1909 is typical. This statute provided the forms of petition for the Referendum and Initiative, specified rules for the filing of these petitions, provided penalties for the violations of the act, and otherwise sought to safeguard Direct Legislation. The forms of the Initiative and Referendum petitions, and the nature of the warning against their being The fraudulently signed, are illustrated by the following extracts from Missouri the Missouri statute of 1909: statute: Section 1. Form of petition to refer: The following shall be substantially the form of petition for the referendum to the people on any act passed by the general assembly of the state of Missouri. It is a felony for any one to sign any initiative or referendum Warning petition with any name other than his own, or to sign knowingly his name more than once for the same measure, or to sign such petition when he is not a legal voter. PETITION FOR REFERENDUM as to signatures. Form used in demanding that a law be referred To the Honorable ., secretary of state for the state of Missouri: We, the undersigned, citizens and legal voters of the state of Missouri (and the county of . . . . . . . . . . ), respectfully order that the senate (or house) bill No. entitled (title of act) passed by the to the general assembly of the state of Missouri at the regular people. (special) session of said general assembly, shall be referred to the people of the state, for their approval or rejection, at the regular (special) election to be held on the ... day of and each for himself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a legal voter of the state of Missouri and county of my residence and postoffice are correctly written after my name. Name Residence (If in a city, street and number.) (Here follow numbered lines for signatures.) A.D. 19.., . . . . . Postoffice.. Section 2. Form of petition to initiate an act. -The following shall be substantially the form of petition for any law or amendment to the constitution of the state of Missouri, proposed by the initiative. 1 From the Statutes of the State of Missouri, Initiative and Referendum Law, 1909. Form used in initiating an act. Necessity of who are to The preparation of the ballot title. To the Honorable Missouri: INITIATIVE PETITION secretary of state for the state of ....... We, the undersigned, citizens and legal voters for the state of Missouri, and of the county of ... respectfully demand that the following proposed law (or amendment to the constitution, as the case may be), shall be submitted to the legal voters of the state of Missouri, for their approval or rejection, at the regular (special) election to be held on the ... ... day of A.D. 19..., and each for himself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a legal voter of the state of Missouri and of the county of residence and postoffice are correctly written after my name. Name Residence .......9 ........ Postoffice. (If in a city, street and number.) (Here follow numbered lines for signatures.) ..; my Every such sheet for petitioners' signatures shall be attached to a full and correct copy of the title and text of the measure so proposed by the initiative petition. . . . 221. Helping the voters to make laws 1 One reason for the development of Direct Legislation has been the feeling that state legislatures are inefficient. But in so far as this inefficiency is due to the legislator's lack of training in technical matters, direct legislation is no remedy. Indeed, if the Initiative and Referendum are applied to complex and technical subjects, it may be that the voters will prove utterly incapable of an intelligent judgment. In the case of even relatively simple. matters, moreover, an effective use of the Initiative and Referendum necessitates some preliminary education. The following extracts from the election laws of Oregon illustrate one method of attempting this education of the voters: Section 5. When any measure shall be filed with the secretary of state to be referred to the people of the state, or of any county or district composed of one or more counties, either by the legislative assembly or by the referendum petition, and when any measure shall be proposed by initiative petition, the secretary of state shall forthwith transmit to the attorney-general of the state a copy 1 From the Statutes of the State of Oregon, Election Law, 1907. thereof, and within ten days thereafter the attorney-general shall provide and return to the secretary of state a ballot title for said measure. The ballot title shall be printed with the numbers of the measure, on the official ballot. In making such ballot the attorney-general shall, to the best of his ability, give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure, and in such language that the ballot title shall not be intentionally an argument, or likely to create prejudice, either for or against the measure. Printing and distribut ing the Section 8. Not later than the first Monday of the third month next before any regular general election, nor later than thirty days before any special election, at which any proposed law, part of an act, arguments. or amendment to the constitution is to be submitted to the people, the secretary of state shall cause to be printed in pamphlet form a true copy of the title and text of each measure to be submitted, with the number and form in which the ballot title thereof will be printed in the official ballot. The person, committee, or duly authorized officers of any organization filing any petition for the initiative, but no other person or organization, shall have the right to file with the secretary of state for printing and distribution any argument advocating such measure; said argument shall be filed not later than the first Monday of the fourth month before the regular election at which the measure is to be voted upon. Any person, committee, or organization may file with the secretary of state, for printing and distribution, any arguments they may desire, opposing any measure, not later than the fourth Monday of the fourth month immediately preceding such election. Arguments advocating or opposing any measures referred to the people by the legislative assembly, or by referendum petition, at a regular general election, shall be governed by the same rules as to time, but may be filed with the secretary of state by any person, committee, or organization; in the case of measures submitted at a special election, all arguments in support of such measure at least sixty days before such election. But in every case the person or persons offering such arguments for printing and distribution shall pay to the secretary of state sufficient money to pay all the expenses for paper and printing to supply one copy with every copy of the Binding the measgures and arguments. The cost. Distribution of the pamphlets. Growth of the Recall after 1903. measure to be printed by the state; and he shall forthwith notify the persons offering the same of the amount of money necessary. The secretary of state shall cause one copy of each of said arguments to be bound in the pamphlet copy of the measures to be submitted as herein provided, and all such measures and arguments to be submitted at one election shall be bound together in a single pamphlet. All the printing shall be done by the state. The title page of every measure bound in said pamphlet shall show its ballot title and ballot numbers. The title page of each argument shall show the measure or measures it favors or opposes and by what persons or organization it is issued. When such arguments are printed, he shall pay the state printer therefor from the money deposited with him and refund the surplus, if any, to the parties who paid him. The cost of printing, binding, and distributing the measures proposed, and of binding and distributing the arguments, shall be paid by the state as a part of the state printing, it being intended that only the cost of paper and printing the arguments shall be paid by the parties presenting the same, and they shall not be charged any higher rate for such work than is paid by the state for similar work and paper. Not later than the fifty-fifth day before the regular election at which such measures are to be voted upon, the secretary of state shall transmit by mail, with postage fully prepaid, to every voter in the state whose address he may have, one copy of such pamphlet. . . . In the case of a special election he shall mail said pamphlet to every voter not less than twenty days before said election. 222. Constitutional provision for the Recall 1 The Initiative and the Referendum are the two most widespread forms of direct popular control; the third and less well-known form is the Recall. The Recall is a device whereby certain elective officials who, it is claimed, have not given satisfaction in office, may be required to stand for reëlection before the end of their term. In its modern form the Recall was first used in 1903 in Los Angeles. The device has since been adopted in a number of states, chiefly in the West. 1 From the Constitution of Arizona, 1910. |