History
Three times in the last century, Minnesotans voted on a measure to
establish a statewide process of initiative and referendum and each time
a majority favored the process. But that alone was not been enough to
enact initiative and referendum in the state.
In 1897 the Minnesota Legislature unintentionally frustrated the
initiative process, as well as a great many future proposals to amend the
state’s constitution, by proposing a supermajority requirement for ratifying
amendments to the constitution.
In 1897, the legislators’ actual objective was to block passage of a
Prohibition amendment, which was bitterly opposed by brewery interests.
In 1897 the question of initiative and referendum had not even been
seriously discussed. It was still two years before Governor John Lind called
for I&R in his message to the legislature, and eight years before the
Minnesota suffragist Mrs. Eugenia Farmer helped found the state’s I&R
League.
The 1897 “Brewer’s Amendment,” sponsored by state representative
(and Hamm Brewing Co. attorney) W. W. Dunn, proposed changing the
ratification threshold for state constitutional amendments: instead of
requiring ratification by a majority of the popular vote of those voting on
each individual amendment, as was then the case (and is now the case
in most states), they would require a majority of all votes cast in the
election. In effect, under this system those who do not vote on a particular
question are counted as voting against it.
Dunn’s amendment passed both houses and was placed on the ballot
for ratification by the voters in 1898. The amendment could not have
passed under its own standard for voter ratification, but it did pass under
the old standard. Of those who voted on the question, 68 percent
favored it - but less than one-third of those voting in the election voted on
this question.
The first Minnesota I&R amendment to get through the legislature was
on the ballot in 1914 and was approved by a three to one margin, but lost
because the “yes” votes were still less than a majority of all the votes cast
in the election. In 1916, the legislature passed an I&R amendment again,
and voters supported it by a margin of nearly four to one, but those voting
in favor were only 45 percent of all voters at the polls, so it lost again. The
Progressives decided the following year that the “supermajority”
requirement was an “insurmountable obstacle,” and apparently gave up.
Sixty years later, the newly elected liberal State Senator Robert
Benedict of Bloomington renewed the fight for a statewide initiative
process. By late April 1978 the three leading candidates in that year’s
gubernatorial election had endorsed L&R. But trouble for the amendment
was brewing elsewhere. On April 25, in a special state election in St. Paul,
voters approved an initiative to repeal a city ordinance banning
discrimination on the basis of “affectionate or sexual preference” - a
stunning defeat for gay rights advocates and the entire liberal
community. Christian fundamentalists sponsoring the initiative had
shrewdly petitioned for a low-turnout special election; such elections tend
to favor conservatives, who turn out to vote in greater numbers than
liberals.
Republican Al Quie, elected governor in 1978, made I&R the
centerpiece of his legislative agenda and by April 1980 had pushed it
through the legislature. The state senate approved it 47 to 13; in the house
the vote was 86 to 47.
Lobbyists and attorneys for the beverage industry were the first to
organize a campaign against voter ratification of the I&R amendment.
Just as in 1897, they wanted to prevent Minnesotans from voting on any
initiative that might qualify for the ballot, in order to ensure that one
specific proposal - in this case, a Bottle Bill - could never pass. The industry
lobbyists maintained a low profile and encouraged allies from liberal
groups (who were upset about the 1978 gay rights vote in St. Paul) to lead
the “Vote No” campaign.
The opposition group was co-chaired by Wayne Popham, a former
Republican state senator and vice president of the Minneapolis Chamber
of Commerce, and Treva Kahl, who headed the state AFL-CIO’s political
department. Popham’s group made Harriette Burkhalter, president of the
state League of Woman Voters, the most visible anti-I&R spokesperson.
On November 4, 1980 the election returns showed 53.2 percent in
favor and 46.8 percent against: not enough to win. Of the total that
turned out to vote, 12 percent had failed to mark “yes” or “no” on I&R. With
these added to the “no” side, the amendment lost.
Former governor Elmer Anderson and Governor Quie had run a
lackluster pro-initiative campaign, but a University of Minnesota political
scientist, Charles H. Backstrom, identified another reason for the loss: many
voters failed to cast ballots on the I&R question because they were not tall
enough to see it on their voting machines. This factor alone, Backstrom
found, could have changed the outcome of the election.
The long-dead legislators of 1897, combined with voting machines
designed for tall people, has thus far defeated the efforts of Minnesotans
to get I&R. But after many years of no serious campaign for I&R, efforts
are once again underway in the legislature and at the grassroots. Rep.
Erik Paulsen has introduced bipartisan legislation in the Minnesota House
of Representatives to establish a statewide initiative and referendum
process.
Rep. Paulsen’s bill has the support of Governor Jesse Ventura and has
passed the House twice, in 1999 and again in 2002, but has failed to get a
vote on the floor of the state Senate. A new citizens’ lobby, Let Minnesota
Vote!, sprang up in 2002 to mobilize voters at the grassroots to pressure
additional legislators.
In remains to be seen whether the current push for I&R will ultimately
succeed, but a recent statewide poll showed 80 percent of Minnesotans
favor a statewide initiative and referendum process. That level of public
support and the willingness of initiative supporters to continue the battle
ultimately bode well for I&R in Minnesota.
Excerpted from the Initiative & Referendum Almanac by M. Dane Waters.