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Hi, my name is Kimberly Andrews.

I'm gonna start by going over the basic definitions of

initiative and

referendum.

Um, initiative is the ability to assess, initiate things independently.

I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna try to change it. I'm going to take action.

I'm gonna take charge

um, before others do before.

Um,

what I think is right. I think I'm gonna go out and

initiate something.

Um, referendum is the principle of practice of submitting to popular vote.

A measure passed on or proposed by a legislative body.

Um

According to the Arizona,

there's a certain steps you have to take to create one.

It can't just happen, obviously,

uh you have to start by forming a political committee through the

Secretary of State's online system or be prepared to designate an existing

political committee to act as the petition sponsor.

Um

Then you're going to file an application for a serial number so that

could be tracked and such uh with the Secretary of State's office.

After that you acquire the appropriate initiative,

um,

a referendum petition in person from the Secretary of State's office.

Then you're gonna make sure that

uh and ensure that

any paid or out of state

circulators

have registered with the Secretary of State's office.

Once all that's completed,

then you're gonna circulate the petitions and then you're

gonna obtain all the signatures from eligible voters.

They have to be eligible.

Um, not everyone can have a signature and if it does, it doesn't matter,

it won't count.

Um, then you're going to, after you get all your petitions

and signatures, you're gonna submit

the circulated petitions to the Secretary of State's office.

Um by the deadline given, like you don't have an unlimited time to get

the signatures like there is a deadline.

Um Then

finally,

the Secretary of State and various county reporters will

process petitions and determine whether enough signatures were gathered

to place the measure on the ballot. And then once it's on the ballot, then

us citizens can vote for it or not.

Um

The way I think of this is like sometimes when I go

to the grocery store or sometimes when I go to public places,

um

I'm asked if I'm a registered voter and I say yes and they say, hey,

I have this petition you can sign, it's for blah, blah, blah.

Um

I know that happens quite often where I'm at.

Um According to the Arizona Constitution, it does require that

um 15% of qualified electors

to place to uh valid signatures to place an initiative processing.

Um

So

that's

something

new that I did not know. Um Also

let's compare and contrast the two.

So they might be very similar in many

ways because they're both trying to change something,

right.

But

initiatives and referendums are both methods of direct democracy.

So that's something they have in common.

But initiatives are proposed are proposals made by citizens.

Um

um us citizens as regular people.

Um while referendums are votes on proposals made by the government.

So that's the difference.

Um Even though us citizens still vote on the ballot with both each one is just made

and created a little bit different. Ok.

So then the pros and cons of each one is,

is the pros of initiatives is that it forced

the legislators to act and address the issue.

Um

It makes legislators more responsive to the issue that

uh citizens are trying to change and such.

Um

the cons are that there's so many initiatives,

there could be a significant amount of initiatives on a ballot that

citizens don't really have time to like

um research each one to

to be informed and learn what each one of those if there's so many, like,

we just don't have time.

So we typically

we shouldn't, but

it tends to happen to where we kind of just

pick because we don't know because we are like,

oh, well, it's whatever, you know, like it's not important to me,

I'm just gonna pick.

So that's kind of like the con of it. It's just,

there could be

so many

on the ballot, right? Um

With referendum, the pros, it gives citizens a voice and important decisions.

Even though the government's making these,

it still leaves it up to us to

um make, have a voice and to um vote as well.

And the cons of that is

um costly and lead to division

um

initiatives and referendums give citizens a more

direct say in the government decisions.

Um which aligns with the idea of

direct democracy outlined in the Arizona constitution

um by allowing citizens to pro uh

propose and vote on laws and policies.

Initiative of referendums give citizens more direct control over

the government and a greater say at how,

how they are governed.

Um

So pretty much just a summary of everything I've told you is that

direct democracy is a form of demo

democracy in which people decide on policy

in policy initiatives directly in Arizona.

Direct democracy is practiced through ballot initiatives and referendums,

ballot initiatives of proposed laws for constitutional amendments

um that are put on the ballot for voters to approve or reject.

Referendums are measures that are put on the ballot for voters to

either approve or reject law that was passed by the state legislator

Arizona is one of the 24 states that allows for direct democracy.

Um

And

so that was pretty much a presentation on direct democracy and

how Arizona kind of incorporates it all into their initiatives and

referendums and the ballots and,

and how us citizens um have the right to decide

and vote and come together to change this. And not just

this is what the government says and this is how it goes.

Um I hope you have a great day and I hope this is informational for you.

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