What was initiative referendum and recall

If a recall petition with the required number of valid signatures is filed, the officer may resign or run for retention at a special election against any candidates whose names qualify to appear on the recall ballot.

A public official cannot be subjected to recall until the official has held office for at least six months from first assuming office. A second or subsequent recall cannot be initiated during the term of a public officer who has been successful in a recall election unless those proposing the new recall pay the cost of the prior recall election. Address: W. Washington St. Skip to main content Turn on more accessible mode. Turn off more accessible mode. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled.

Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Legislatures are often required to refer certain measures to the ballot for voter approval. For instance, changes to the state constitution must be approved by voters before they can take effect.

Many state legislatures are also required by their state constitutions to refer bond measures and tax changes to the voters. Although this is not always the case, legislative referenda tend to be less controversial than citizen initiatives, are more often approved by voters than citizen initiatives, and often receive higher vote thresholds.

Legislative referenda may appear on the ballot in all 50 states. The popular referendum is a device which allows voters to approve or repeal an act of the Legislature. If the Legislature passes a law that voters do not approve of, they may gather signatures to demand a popular vote on the law. Generally, there is a day period after the law is passed during which the petitioning must take place. Once enough signatures are gathered and verified, the new law appears on the ballot for a popular vote.

During the time between passage and the popular vote, the law may not take effect. If voters approve of the law, it takes effect as scheduled. If voters reject the law, it is voided and does not take effect. Most of them are also initiative states. A third form of referendum, the advisory referendum, is rarely used. In this form of the process, the Legislature, and in some states the governor, may place a question on the ballot to gauge voter opinion.

The results of the election on this question are not binding. An example of an advisory referendum is Question 5, which appeared on the Rhode Island ballot in Other information also would be available on the website. Costs to Develop New System. Typically, government information technology projects take much longer than six months to develop, especially when they require interaction with various local governments and state departments and require security protocols.

The online petition system at issue in this measure will have some such requirements. Therefore, it may prove difficult for the system to be developed within six months, as this measure could be interpreted to require. In any event, the one-time state and local costs to develop this new system likely would total in the millions of dollars or more. Ongoing Costs or Savings.

Over time, after the development of the online petition system, the state and local government net costs or savings from this measure would depend on the system that the Secretary of State develops under this measure. If that system requires labor-intensive efforts by state or local elections officials to verify signatures, then it is possible that there could be additional costs under this measure.

Moreover, if the availability of the new system results in more initiative, referendum, and recall petitions, it is possible that this increase could contribute to higher state or local costs.