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Initiatives And Referendums In The United States
In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a referendum or popular vote, either enacting new legislation, or voting down existing legislation. Citizens, or an organization, might start a popular initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum, or actual vote. Initiatives and referendums, along with recall elections and popular Partisan primary, primary elections, were signature reforms from the Progressive Era (1896–1917) when people sought to moderate the power of parties and political bosses. These powers are written into several State constitution (United States), state constitutions, particularly in the Western United States, West. Initiatives and referendums constitute a form of direct democracy. As of 2024, these processes are only available at state levels, an ...
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Politics Of The United States
In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, Congress, which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legislative body comprising the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives and the United States Senate, Senate; the Executive (government), executive branch, which is headed by the president of the United States, who serves as the country's head of state and head of government, government; and the Federal judiciary of the United States, judicial branch, composed of the United States Supreme Court, Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and which exercises judicial power. Each of the 50 individual State governments of the United States, state governments has the power to make laws within its jurisdiction that are not granted to the federal government nor denied ...
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Online Petition
An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. Typically, after there are enough signatories, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via e-mail. The online petition may also deliver an email to the target of the petition each time the petition is signed. Pros and cons Pros * The format makes it easy for people to make a petition at any time. * Several websites allow anyone with computer access to make one to protest any cause, such as stopping construction or closure of a store. Cons * Because petitions are easy to set up, the site can attract frivolous causes, or jokes framed in the ostensible form of a petition. * Online petitions may be abused if signers use pseudonyms instead of real names, thus undermining its legitimacy. * Verificat ...
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Constitution Of Mississippi
The Constitution of Mississippi is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of Mississippi delineating the duties, powers, structures, and functions of the state government. Mississippi's original constitution was adopted at a constitutional convention held at Washington, Mississippi in advance of the western portion of the territory's admission to the Union in 1817. The current state constitution was adopted in 1890 following the reconstruction period. It has been amended and updated 100 times in since its adoption in 1890, with some sections being changed or repealed altogether. The most recent modification to the constitution occurred in November 2020, when Section 140 was amended, and Sections 141-143 were repealed. Since becoming a state, Mississippi has had four constitutions. The first one was used until 1832, when the second constitution was created and adopted. It ended property ownership as a prerequisite for voting, which was limited to free white males at th ...
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Mississippi
Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the southwest, and Arkansas to the northwest. Mississippi's western boundary is largely defined by the Mississippi River, or its historical course. Mississippi is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 32nd largest by area and List of U.S. states by population, 35th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states and has the lowest per-capita income. Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson is both the state's List of capitals in the United States, capital and largest city. Jackson metropolitan area, Mississippi, Greater Jackson is the state's most populous Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, with a population of 591,978 2020 United States census, in 2020. Other major cities include Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport, Southaven, Mississippi, South ...
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode Island to its south, New Hampshire and Vermont to its north, and New York (state), New York to its west. Massachusetts is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, sixth-smallest state by land area. With a 2024 U.S. Census Bureau-estimated population of 7,136,171, its highest estimated count ever, Massachusetts is the most populous state in New England, the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 16th-most-populous in the United States, and the List of states and territories of the United States by population density, third-most densely populated U.S. state, after New Jersey and Rhode Island. Massachusetts was a site of early British colonization of the Americas, English colonization. The Plymouth Colony was founded in 16 ...
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Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Straits of Florida to the south, and The Bahamas to the southeast. About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It has the List of U.S. states by coastline, longest coastline in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately , not including its many barrier islands. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of over 23 million, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by population, third-most populous state in the United States and ranks List of states and territories of the United States by population density, seventh in population density as of 2020. Florida spans , ranking List of U.S. states ...
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Legislative Referral
A legislative referral (or legislative referendum) is a referendum in which a legislature puts proposed legislation up for popular vote. This may either be voluntarily or, as is the case in many countries for a constitutional amendment, as a mandatory part of the procedure for passing a law. These referrals, depending on the location, can either amend a constitution or enact a change in statute. It is a form of direct democracy. In some places it is known as an authorities referendum, authorities plebiscite, government initiated referendum, or top-down referendum It may originate from the legislative branch, executive branch, or a combination of the two. An instrument of direct democracy, it is in contrast to citizens (or "bottom-up") initiative that is initiated from the public. With initiated statutes and amendments, voters both initiate and decide on the change of law. In a legislative referral, they only approve or reject laws which their legislature votes to place befor ...
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Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a ''written constitution''; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a ''codified constitution''. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a notable example of an ''uncodified constitution''; it is instead written in numerous fundamental acts of a legislature, court cases, and treaties. Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign countries to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty that establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution ...
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Virginia Gray (political Scientist)
Virginia Gray (born 1945) is an American political scientist, currently the Robert Watson Winston Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She studies public policy and interest groups with a particular focus on U.S. state politics. Her work on policy diffusion, which concerns how innovation in policies within one region can lead to adoptions of that policy by other regions, has been cited as foundational in developing that research topic. Education and early career Gray attended Hendrix College, where she earned a BA. She then graduated with an MA from Washington University in St. Louis, followed by a PhD from the same institution in 1972. Gray was a professor at the University of Minnesota until 2001, when she moved to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has also been a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, University of Oslo, and Nankai University. Career Gray has been credited with cond ...
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Statute
A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed will of a legislative body, whether that be on the behalf of a country, state or province, county, municipality, or so on. Depending on the legal system, a statute may also be referred to as an "act." Etymology The word appears in use in English as early as the 14th century. "Statute" and earlier English spellings were derived from the Old French words ''statut'', ''estatut'', ''estatu,'' meaning "(royal) promulgation, (legal) statute." These terms were in turn derived from the Late Latin ''statutum,'' meaning "a law, decree." Publication and organization In virtually all countries, newly enacted statutes are published and distributed so that everyone can look up the statutory law. This can be done in the form of a government gazette, whi ...
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Constitutional Amendment
A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, they can be appended to the constitution as supplemental additions ( codicils), thus changing the frame of government without altering the existing text of the document. Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation. Examples of such special procedures include supermajorities in the legislature, or direct approval by the electorate in a referendum, or even a combination of two or more different special procedures. A referendum to amend the constitution may also be triggered in some jurisdictions by popular initiative. Australia and Ireland provide examples of constitutions requiring t ...
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Popular Initiative
A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. In direct initiative, the proposition is put directly to a plebiscite or referendum, also called a ''popular initiated referendum'' or ''citizen-initiated referendum''. In an indirect initiative, the proposed measure is first referred to the legislature, and then if the proposed law is rejected by the legislature, the government may be forced to put the proposition to a referendum. The proposition may be on federal level law, statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment, local ordinance, obligate the executive (government), executive or legislature to consider the subject by submitting it to the order of the day. In contrast, a popular referendum that allows voters only to repeal existing legislation.
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