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The District of Columbia (a political division coterminous with Washington, D.C.) has had a system of direct voting since 1979, shortly after it gained home rule in 1973. Residents have the ability to place new legislation, or legislation recently passed by the city council, on the ballot for a popular vote. The district has three types of ballot measures that can be voted on in a general election: District Charter amendments, initiatives and referendums. In order to be placed on the ballot, supporters of a measure must gather signatures from registered voters.[1]
Since adopting this process, ballot measures have become a common part of the city's electoral system. As of 2022,[update] more than 150 different initiatives had been filed with the district, along with a significantly smaller number of referendums; of those, only 29 have met the required qualifications to be placed on the ballot.[2][3] Ballot measures have been used to legalize politically contentious policies such as local term limits, abolition of the tipped minimum wage,[4] cannabis use,[5] and advancements in the District of Columbia statehood movement.[6]
Since the late 1800s, the residents of the District of Columbia have campaigned for control over their own affairs. In a substantial leap forward, the United States Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in 1973, which devolved some of its powers to the city.[7] Just a few years later in 1979, the newly formed city council passed the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Procedures Act.[8] This act created a process of direct democracy in which residents could enact their own laws or repeal existing laws.
The prominence of ballot measures has allowed Washington, D.C., to lead the nation in social issues. In 2014, residents approved Initiative 71, which legalized cannabis for recreational use, making the district the third U.S. jurisdiction behind Colorado and Washington state.[5] The Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020 made the city the fourth U.S. jurisdiction to decriminalize entheogens.[9] In 2022, voters approved Initiative 82, which eliminates the tipped minimum wage over five years, after an earlier initiative ultimately failed. It joined eight states in abolishing the practice.[4]
Residents have also used ballot measures to expand their voting rights and (by extension) campaign for admitting the District of Columbia into the Union as the 51st state. An initiative in 1980 directed the D.C. government to begin the process of moving towards statehood due to the stalled and limited-in-scope voting rights amendment.[10] Voters made the Attorney General for the District of Columbia an elected office beginning in 2014.[11] An advisory referendum in 2016 showed that nearly 90 percent of residents support statehood, and it directed the D.C. Council to make formal statehood petitions to Congress.[6]
District Charter amendments are changes to the District of Columbia Home Rule Charter, the law that established the D.C. government and its authority.[12] They require a majority vote to pass the D.C. Council, a majority of voters to approve the amendment, and then are submitted to Congress for a 35-business day congressional review period. If Congress does not pass a resolution of disapproval, the amendment is adopted.[13]
There are two types of referendums in the District of Columbia:
The D.C. government has concluded that approved ballot measures become self-enacting – meaning the government does not need to take action, such as an approving signature or proclamation, for the measure to take effect.[16] However, many approved ballot measures have been invalidated by either the D.C. Council or Congress, much to the frustration of residents.
The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Procedures Act gives the D.C. Council the power to reverse voter-approved initiatives, as it did in 2001 regarding term limits and in 2019 regarding the tipped minimum wage.[17][18]
Congress has ultimate authority over the district, including its budget. As a result, members of Congress, who do not represent the district and are not accountable to them, often add little-noticed clauses and amendments to the budget in order to manipulate or block the implementation of the city's laws.[19] Two ballot measures were interfered with using this method:
Initiative 77 was threatened by an amendment written by Congressmen Mark Meadows and Gary Palmer to block it from taking effect.[22] The amendment did not appear in the final enacted budget bill;[23] it was instead repealed by the D.C. Council.
| Year | Measure name | Description | Status | Yes votes | No votes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Initiative 2 | An initiative to legalize some forms of gambling, including a lottery, bingo, raffles, and some sports betting[24] | Failed | 14,871 (39.23%) | 23,032 (60.77%) | [25] |
| Initiative 3 | An initiative to begin the process of moving the District of Columbia to statehood[10] | Passed | 90,533 (59.7%) | 60,972 (40.2%) | [26][27] | |
| Initiative 6 | An initiative to legalize some forms of gambling for charitable purposes[26] | Passed | 104,899 (63.6%) | 59,833 (36.3%) | [26][27] | |
| 1981 | Initiative 7 | An initiative to provide tuition tax credits for public education[28] | Failed | 8,904 (10.76%) | 73,829 (89.24%) | [29] |
| 1982 | Initiative 9 | An initiative to require a mandatory minimum prison sentence, without the opportunity for parole, for people convicted for some crimes[30] | Passed | 82,238 (72.25%) | 31,579 (27.75%) | [30][31] |
| Initiative 10 | An initiative supporting a nuclear freeze between the United States and the USSR[32] | Passed | 77,521 (69.91%) | 33,369 (30.09%) | [33] | |
| 1983 | Initiative 11 | An initiative to require the preservation of the historic Rhodes' Tavern and protect it from development[34] | Passed | 22,114 (59.68%) | 14,938 (40.32%) | [35] |
| 1984 | Initiative 17 | An initiative to guarantee a right to adequate overnight shelter for homeless people[30] | Passed; repealed[36] | 109,080 (72.12%) | 42,159 (27.88%) | [37] |
| 1985 | Referendum 1 | A referendum to maintain rent control provisions for some kinds of housing[30] | Passed | 22,920 (50.82%) | 22,183 (49.18%) | [38] |
| 1987 | Initiative 25 | An initiative stating that the funding of public education is a high priority and requiring the government adhere to a schedule of public hearings for public education funding[39] | Passed | 54,729 (77.14%) | 16,223 (22.86%) | [26][40] |
| Initiative 28 | An initiative to require beverage retailers provide a five-cent refund for all cans and bottles returned[30] | Failed | 42,574 (55.00%) | 34,834 (45.00%) | [41] | |
| 1990 | Referendum 5 | A referendum to guarantee a right to adequate overnight shelter for homeless people[42] | Failed | 60,734 (48.72%) | 63,913 (51.28%) | [43] |
| 1991 | Initiative 31 | An initiative to ban horse-drawn carriages from operating on public streets[44] | Failed | 19,429 (38.00%) | 31,403 (62.00%) | [45] |
| Referendum 6 | A referendum to hold gun manufacturers liable when use of their weapons results in pain, death, or medical expenses[30] | Passed | 40,196 (77.00%) | 11,692 (23.00%) | [45] | |
| 1992 | Initiative 41 | An initiative to limit individual contributions for local elections[46] | Passed | 122,502 (64.70%) | 66,843 (35.30%) | [47] |
| Initiative 43 | An initiative to authorize the death penalty for local inmates convicted of first-degree murder[30] | Failed | 66,303 (32.86%) | 135,465 (67.14%) | [47] | |
| 1993 | Initiative 37 | An initiative calling for the United States and former members of the USSR to denuclearize and direct funding towards human services[48][49] | Passed | 41,702 (56.26%) | 32,422 (43.74%) | [50] |
| 1994 | Initiative 49 | An initiative limiting the mayor, councilmembers, and school board members to two consecutive terms[51] | Passed; repealed[17] | 83,865 (62.00%) | 52,116 (38.00%) | [52] |
| 1996 | Initiative 51 | An initiative to allow residents to challenge commercial property assessments[53] | Failed | 110,523 (80.00%) | 27,982 (20.00%) | [54] |
| 1998 | Initiative 59 | An initiative to legalize the possession, cultivation, and distribution of cannabis for medical reasons[55] | Passed; temporarily blocked[a] | 75,536 (69.00%) | 34,621 (31.00%) | [58] |
| 2000 | Charter Amendment 3 | A charter amendment reducing the size of the State Board of Education from eleven members to nine members[30] | Passed | 20,511 (51.00%) | 19,668 (49.00%) | [59] |
| 2002 | Initiative 62 | An initiative to allow some nonviolent drug offenders to go through a treatment program rather than drug courts[60] | Passed | 86,162 (78.17%) | 24,063 (21.83%) | [61] |
| 2010 | Proposed Charter Amendment IV | A referendum to make the D.C. attorney general position an elected office[11] | Passed | 90,316 (75.78%) | 28,868 (24.22%) | [62] |
| 2012 | Charter Amendment V | Council may, by a 5/6 vote, expel a Councilmember. | Passed | 22,452
(85.94%) |
36,883
(14.06%) |
|
| 2012 | Charter Amendment VI | Makes ineligible to serve any Councilmember convicted of a felony while in office | Passed | 204,986
(77.61%) |
59,144
(22.39%) |
|
| 2012 | Charter Amendment VII | Makes ineligible to serve any Mayor convicted of a felony while in office | Passed | 206,813
(78.35%) |
57,132
(21.65%) |
|
| 2013 | Proposed Charter Amendment VIII | A referendum to grant Washington, D.C., budget autonomy from the United States federal budget[63] | Passed | 46,788 (86.33%) | 7,411 (13.67%) | [64] |
| 2014 | Initiative 71 | An initiative to legalize the possession and cultivation of cannabis for personal use in small amounts[65] | Passed; partially blocked[21] | 115,050 (70.06%) | 49,168 (29.94%) | [66] |
| 2016 | Advisory Referendum B | A referendum approving a state constitution and encouraging the D.C. Council to petition Congress to admit the District of Columbia as the 51st state[67] | Passed | 244,134 (78.48%) | 40,779 (13.11%) | [68] |
| 2018 | Initiative 77 | An initiative to increase the minimum wage for tipped employees to the same level as non-tipped employees[69] | Passed; repealed[70] | 47,230 (55.74%) | 37,504 (44.26%) | [71] |
| 2020 | Initiative 81 | An initiative to require police to treat entheogenic plants and fungi as a lowest-priority offense, a form of effective decriminalization[72] | Passed | 214,685 (76.18%) | 67,140 (23.82%) | [73] |
| 2022 | Initiative 82 | An initiative to increase the minimum wage for tipped employees to the same level as non-tipped employees[74] | Passed | 132,925 (73.94%) | 46,861 (26.06%) | [75] |
| 2024 | Initiative 83 | An initiative that would permit ranked-choice voting and open the primary elections to independent voters.[76] | Passed |
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