in the politics of the united states, initiative and referendum is a process that allows citizens of many u.s. states to place new legislation on a popular ballot, or to place legislation that has recently been passed by a legislature on a ballot and vote on it. initiative and referendum, along with recall elections and popular primary elections, is one of the signature reforms of the progressive era; it is written into several state constitutions, particularly in the west. == history == :main article: history of direct democracy in the united states the progressive era was a period marked by reforms aimed at breaking the concentrated, some would say monopoly, power of certain corporations and trusts. many progressives believed that state legislatures were part of this problem and that they were essentially "in the pocket" of certain wealthy interests. they sought a method to counter thisâa way in which average persons could become directly involved in the political process. one of the methods they came up with was the initiative and referendum. between 1904 and 2007, some 2231 statewide referendums initiated by citizens were held in the usa. 909 of these initiatives have been approved. perhaps even greater is the number of such referendums that have been called by state legislatures or mandatoryâ600 compared to 311 civic initiatives in 2000-2007. == types of initiatives and referendums == [[file:initiatives, referendums, and legislative referral in the united states.png|thumb|right|500px|states that allow direct initiated constitutional amendments     states and federal district that allow initiated statutes {{legend|gold|massachusetts allows legislatively-referred an
Activism_by_type Ballot_measures_in_the_United_States History_of_voting_rights_in_the_United_States