History
The movement to establish the initiative process in Kansas was well
under way by 1900, when the Democratic and Populist parties in the state
endorsed the idea. In 1909, initiative supporters won approval of their
amendment in the state’s lower house but were defeated in the state
senate.
In 1911 Governor W. R. Stubbs called for the enactment of an I&R
amendment, and by 1913 all the state’s major parties had endorsed it,
including Kansas’ first state conference of women voters. The nationally
known progressive leader William Allen White of Emporia was called
Kansas’ “foremost champion of Direct Legislation” in a contemporary
periodical. Despite all this support, I&R advocates never succeeded in
passing a statewide I&R amendment. However, they did push through the
legislature a bill establishing I&R in all Kansas cities in 1909, and a
statewide recall amendment in 1914.
Excerpted from the Initiative & Referendum Almanac by M. Dane Waters.