Direct Democracy and California

MR. AGUILAR
GOVERMENT
 Brass tax-Terms to know.
• Direct democracy- a form direct participation of citizens in democratic decision making,
in contrast to indirect or representative democracy, based on the sovereignty of the people.
• Proposition- a statement or assertion that expresses a judgment or opinion.
• Indirect democracy- Indirect democracy refers to a system of government in which the
people control the government through elected political officials
• Represented democracy- is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected
officials representing a group of people.
• Recall election-s a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office
through a direct vote, typically initiated when enough voters sign a petition.
• Referendum- is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is invited to vote on a particular
proposal.
What defines a state
• A state can be defined as a body of people living in a define territory,
organized political wand with the power to make and enforce laws
without the consent of any higher authority.
• So what are the four characteristics of a state
• 1 Population
• 2 Territory
• 3 Government
• 4 Sovereignty
 Sovereignty
• To have the supreme and absolute power within its own territory and
can decide its own foreign and domestic policies. Its neither
subordinate nor responsible to any other country.
Is the city of Orange a state? Is the California a state?
Does its have a population? Does its have a population?
Yes Yes
Does it have a government? Does it have a government?
yes yes
Does it have a territory? Does it have a territory?
yes yes
Does it have sovereignty? Does it have sovereignty?
No! No!
There is a higher authority which is There is a higher authority which is Washington D.C
Sacramento, Ca.
Representative Government.
• A system of government in which public policies are made by official
selected by voters and held accountable in periodic elections.
• California voted for recreational marijuana, was this representative
gov’t?
• No- That is a direct democracy type of Gov’t
• California passed (SB 10) a bill that would require a person arrested or
detained for misdemeanor to be booked and released without needing
to submit to a risk assessment if they are not a threat to public safety.
• Yes- This is representative Gov’t legislators created policy to release
criminals but will be held accountable if the law back fires and upsets
the public.
 Direct democracy
• A form of government where all citizens
participate in deciding public policies and
laws.
• When California enacted a law that made gay
marriage legal, was is through direct
democracy?
• No- this happened because our Ca Supreme
Court decided that it was a right of all the
people in CA to marry any person.
• Examples-Recreational Marijuana, Death
Penalty Repeal, Gay Marriage, Carry-out bags
etc.
The difference between Representative Gov’t & Direct
Democracy
• How is your prom King and Queen
selected?
• All seniors choose who they want so
this is an example of Direct
Democracy
• How is the location of the prom
chosen?
• Your ASB organization makes that
decision for you this is an example of
Representative Government.
Democracy
• The majority of elections in the United States are held to enact
Indirect Democracy. Elections allow the people to pick
representatives to serve in government and create policy's on a citizens’
behalf.
• Not all states allow for Direct Democracy, in which there are currently
only 8 states in the united states that allow its residence to vote using
this system.
• Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North
Dakota and Oregon.
How a law is made compared to a proposition.
• Proposition- starts of as a petition that needs a certain amount of
signatures (around 100,000) which will allow it to go on a ballot. Then
the State needs to verify that the signatures are from Ca voters and not
duplicated. When it passes this requirement then CA voters get to
decide on the measure.
• Bill- a bill starts off in one of the two houses of State Legislature in Ca.
if it starts in the Senate the bill will have a (SB) on it then go to review.
The senate will need a 51% vote for it to pass to then go to the state
assembly for review. If the bill receives a 51% majority then it will go to
the Governor who can decide to veto or sign the bill into law.
 Recall elections
• Recall elections are one of the more Arnold schwarzenegger
uncommon forms of direct democracy. a Gray Davis
recall election allows voters to decide
whether to remove a government official
from office. This can be a governor or
Legislator who are no longer seen as fit to
serve in government by the people of a
state.
• The United states currently does not allow
for a president to have a recall election.
• all states have ways to remove officials, but
removal by voters is less common.
• California has a two-tier voting system for
a recall election. First the voters must have
a majority of more than 50% to decide on a
recall. Second if voters do not like the
successor chosen by the Governor. Voters
will then decide again on who they believe
should be the new governor.
Referendums
• If the citizens of a state are
upset about a law or policy,
they can have a referendum.
• A referendum is typically
used to remove a law or
amend a proposition within
a state's constitution. Voters
are given the option to
repeal or change the law by
majority vote. This can also
be used to remove someone
from office.
So why does California have the Initiative process.

• In the early 1900’s wealthy railroad owners controlled the governor and other
state officials. The officials made laws to help the big businesses monopolize
and take control of the land instead of representing its citizens.
• Californians became angry and in 1911 passed an amendment that changed
the state constitution to allow direct democracy using the proposition system.
This gave voters the power to propose or help change the laws instead of soley
relaying on legislators to represent the people.
• Any California citizen can write a petition to propose or change a new law. If
enough people sign the petition (100,000), the government must put the
proposition on the ballot and let citizens vote. If enough people vote for the
proposition, it bypasses the legislators and governor to become law.