For decades, the people of New York State have indicated the same concerns on major issues – in 1994, George Pataki rode to a massive upset of Governor Mario Cuomo on a clear platform of cutting taxes and reducing crime. Today, the two issues voters indicated are of the greatest concern in the Voter Empowerment Index? You guessed it, taxes and crime!
Meanwhile, thousands of bills are introduced into the New York State Legislature every year. Why aren’t they addressing the issues most New Yorkers have called the most important for more than 20 years? It doesn’t seem to make sense, especially when more voters than not think the state is on the wrong track (47-37%).
Most legislative changes made in New York and around the nation are done through representative democracy – in which voters select representatives, who then are charged with passing laws. However, in nearly half of US states, there are forms of Direct Democracy available through initiative and referendum.
The initiative process would allow voters in New York to bypass the state legislature and place proposed legislation directly on the ballot for approval. Similarly, referendum would allow voters to approve or repeal an act of the legislature. Dozens of states have some form of these popular direct democracy processes in place. Interestingly, in New York State, many actions untaken by local and town governments can be made subject to a permissive referendum, so clearly the process can work effectively.
Initiative and referendum would put power in the hands of the of the voters of New York State, providing greater accountability to our state legislature – a legislature regularly ranked as one of the least popular, least effective, and least trusted in the United States. Interestingly, this form of checks and balances is available and regularly used at the local level in New York State, proving that it is a practical and realistic approach to democracy.
Enabling initiative and referendum at the statewide level would require a constitutional amendment, so state legislation authorizing this reform would need to be passed by two separately elected legislatures, then, ironically, ratified by voters as a ballot question.
“Our political system isn’t broken.
It’s fixed.”
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