[EL] Most surprising remark in today's oral argument in the Arizona redistricting case

[Trevor Potter]

Thank you Dan, got clarifying which aspect of direct democracy-- recall, not intuitive-- was a bone of contention in the approval of the AZ constitution by the federal government. My point was that AZ has always been very insistent on avenues for direct democracy .

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 2, 2015, at 11:50 PM, Daniel A. Smith <dasmith at ufl.edu<mailto:dasmith at ufl.edu>> wrote:

Contrary to an earlier post, the first statewide initiative was not adopted until 1904, when voters in Oregon overwhelmingly (three to one) adopted the nation's first direct primary nominating convention law. (South Dakota voters adopted the initiative in 1898, but they did not employ the mechanism immediately).

Regarding Trevor Potter's comment that the people of Arizona's "determination to include the initiative process in their constitution was a bone of contention in the ratification process" -- that really wasn't the case.  Citizens of what would become the state of Arizona were not only very supportive of the initiative and referendum processes, they also supported the recall of judges.  In February, 1911, Arizonians ratified a state constitution with the initiative, referendum, and recall, with nearly 80% approval.

President Taft, however, was no such fan, and in August 1911 he vetoed legislation to make AZ a state because of the judicial recall provision in the AZ constitution.  The judicial recall was subsequently removed by the territorial legislature from the draft constitution. Arizonians ratified the revised state constitution in December 1911, without the recall, with nearly 90% approval at the polls.   Taft approved legislation in February 1912 creating Arizona as the 48th state. The new constitution included both the initiative and referendum.

In 1912, Arizonians amended Section 1, Article 8 of their state constitution, when they adopted a legislative referendum "extending the recall to all public officers of the State holding an elective office, either by election or appointment."  In that election, men also adopted by a two to one margin a citizen initiative granting women suffrage.

More on the history of the referral by state legislatures and the subsequent adoption of the initiative by citizens during the Progressive Era can be found in my 2008 APSR article, available here<http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=2300124&fileId=S0003055408080258>.  More on the use of the initiative to adopt statewide election and ethics reforms can be found in my chapter in Bruce Cain, Todd Donovan, and Caroline Tolbert's 2008 edited volume, Democracy in the States, here<https://electionsmith.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/12-1337-1-ch12.pdf>.

dan


daniel a. smith, ph.d.
professor & uf research foundation professor
graduate coordinator
political science internship program coordinator
department of political science
003 anderson hall              |  phone: 352-273-2346
po box 117325                  |  fax: 352-392-8127
university of florida          |  email: dasmith at ufl.edu<mailto:dasmith at ufl.edu>
gainesville, fl 32611-7325     |  http://people.clas.ufl.edu/dasmith//

section chair, state politics and policy (APSA), 2013-2015
https://twitter.com/electionsmith

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