A legislatively-referred constitutional amendment is a constitutional amendment

Constitutional amendment

A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...

 that appears on a state's ballot

Ballot

A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...

 as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.

A legislatively-referred constitutional amendment is a limited form of direct democracy

Direct democracy

Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...

 with comparison to the initiated constitutional amendment

Initiated constitutional amendment

An initiated constitutional amendment is an amendment to a state's constitution that results from petition by the state's citizens. By utilizing this initiative process, citizens are able to propose and vote on constitutional amendments directly, without need of legislative referral...

. With the initiated constitutional amendment, voters are in charge of the process from beginning to end, whereas with the legislatively-referred amendment, they can only approve or reject amendments which their legislature votes to place before them.

Other types of ballot measures

Automatic ballot referral Bond issue Commission-referred constitutional amendment Constitutional convention Constitutional convention (political meeting) A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...

Initiated state statute Indirect initiated state statute Initiated constitutional amendment Initiated constitutional amendment An initiated constitutional amendment is an amendment to a state's constitution that results from petition by the state's citizens. By utilizing this initiative process, citizens are able to propose and vote on constitutional amendments directly, without need of legislative referral... Indirect initiative amendment

Legislative referral Legislative referral A Legislative referral is a form of referendum in which a legislature puts proposed legislation up for popular vote , rather than through the initiative or referendum process... Legislatively-referred state statute Legislatively-referred state statute A legislatively-referred state statute is a statute that appears on a state's ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.... Statute referendum Veto referendum

External links

• State chart of direct democracy options