Question

How can citizens take direct action in legislation and state government?

Answer 1

In several states across the US, individuals can take direct action by using different procedures like recalls and referendums.

A recall is when citizens of a particular state want to remove an individual from political office. Several states, like Arizona and Wisconsin, will allow citizens to use this process. In order to get an elected official removed from office, a group must get a certain percentage of citizens from their state to sign a petition in favor of removing this person. If enough people sign, then there will be a general election in which all citizens vote on whether or not to remove the person from office.

A referendum, on the other hand, revolves around state legislatures making laws that must be approved by the citizens before being implemented. This makes it so that citizens have the power over certain laws in their state.