# Issue and policy referendums
This article covers how issue and policy referendum votes are initiated, where they are used, what they pass, and what campaigns and scholarly debates show; individual named referendum events are covered in sibling articles on topics such as cannabis, abortion, daylight saving, and local ballot questions.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Three initiation routes | Citizen initiative, popular veto (optional) referendum, and legislative or automatic referral[1](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-019-00230-4) |
| Swiss thresholds | 50,000 signatures in 100 days for an optional referendum; 100,000 in 18 months for an initiative[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf) |
| Swiss national passage rates (since 1970) | Mandatory 78.1%, optional 70.1%, counter proposals 58.6%, citizens' initiatives 10.4%[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf) |
| Type beats topic | Acceptance rates vary more by referendum type than by policy area[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf) |
| Turnout decline | Average referendum turnout has fallen from over 80% in the 1940s to just under 50% today[3](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2023.pdf) |
| Rare outside core jurisdictions | Of referendums on EU issues, all but the single 2016 Dutch citizen-initiated vote were mandatory or government-called[4](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/729358/EPRS_IDA(2022)729358_EN.pdf) |
| Money | It is not clear that money buys victory on ballot issues; the side with less money often wins[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/legal-and-political-magazines/referendums-and-plebiscites) |
## What counts as an issue or policy referendum
The [International IDEA](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-idea) typology distinguishes four broad types of direct democracy: referendums, citizens' initiatives, agenda initiatives, and recall, with referendums further separated into mandatory and optional (authority-initiated) forms[1](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-019-00230-4).
The abrogative and rejective forms mark the boundary of the veto family. A citizen-demanded referendum can target existing laws (abrogative) or newly accepted legislation (rejective); an agenda initiative is weaker still, requiring only that the legislature consider a proposal[1](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-019-00230-4). The referendum in its present form emerged in the early nineteenth century, encapsulating the philosophy of a "people's veto"[6](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-49096-5_2).
## How policy referendums are initiated
Three routes bring a policy question to the ballot. A **citizens' initiative** lets a group present a draft proposal, gather the required signatures and thereby force a popular vote on the issue[1](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-019-00230-4). A **popular veto referendum** challenges either existing laws or newly accepted legislation. A **legislative or mandatory referral** places a measure on the ballot without any citizen action; in Switzerland the mandatory referendum is triggered automatically for constitutional amendments, accession to collective security or supranational organizations, and certain emergency legislation[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf).
Swiss thresholds illustrate the design variables. For the optional referendum, 50,000 signatures must be collected within 100 days; for a citizens' initiative, 100,000 signatures within 18 months[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf).
Rules also differ in outcome: Swiss optional referendums pass with a simple majority, but citizens' initiatives and mandatory referendums require a double majority of citizens and cantons[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf). More broadly, the literature separates top-down referendums driven by political elites or institutions from those triggered by groups of citizens or civic organizations[7](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.12790), and Altman's typology classifies mechanisms as legally regulated (mandatory versus facultative), binding versus consultative, proactive versus reactive, and top-down versus bottom-up[1](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-019-00230-4). Whether results bind governments or only advise them is itself a jurisdiction-level choice[4](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/729358/EPRS_IDA(2022)729358_EN.pdf).
## Where they are used
Switzerland is the paradigm case, and its institutions are old: the mandatory referendum and the citizens' initiative for total constitutional revision date to the founding [Confederation](https://www.edgepedia.org/confederation) of 1848, the optional legislative referendum to 1874, and the citizens' initiative for partial revision to 1891[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf).
Elsewhere citizen-initiated policy votes are rare. Among referendums on EU issues, with the exception of the single 2016 citizen-initiated referendum in the Netherlands, all others were either mandatory referendums triggered by law or non-mandatory referendums called by governments[4](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/729358/EPRS_IDA(2022)729358_EN.pdf).
## By the numbers
Passage rates in Switzerland differ sharply by mechanism. At the national level since 1970, mandatory referendums have a 78.1% acceptance rate and optional referendums 70.1%, counter proposals 58.6%, while only 10.4% of citizens' initiatives pass, highlighting how hard it is for citizen proposals to win majority support[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf).
Subnational Swiss rates show the same pattern: mandatory referendums 88.1%, counter proposals 68.2%, governmental referendums 67%, optional referendums 54.2%, citizens' initiatives 26.8%[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf).
**Mechanism, not subject matter, drives these rates.** [Acceptance](https://www.edgepedia.org/acceptance) rates vary more by referendum type than by topic: citizens' initiatives fail across almost all policy areas, while mandatory referendums are approved irrespective of what they contain[2](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf). For readers, the practical implication is that asking "do referendums on issue X pass?" is less informative than asking "who triggered the vote and under which majority rule?".
Turnout has shifted over time and by trigger. Average referendum turnout has declined from more than 80% in the 1940s to just under 50% today[3](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2023.pdf). By trigger type, bottom-up referendums have the lowest turnout, followed by top-down referendums, while automatic referendums show the highest turnout, with large regional variation[3](https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2023.pdf). Comparative volume data for the United States tabulate popular initiatives and approval rates by decade, initiative substance in 1910–1919 versus 2000–2019, and ballot-measure spending for 2012–2022[8](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49096-5).
## Campaigns, money and legitimacy
In California, a cottage industry of paid petition circulators and political consultants has grown up around the initiative process. Yet it is not clear that money can buy victory on ballot issues; it has been demonstrated repeatedly that the side with less money often wins[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/legal-and-political-magazines/referendums-and-plebiscites).
Money in referendum campaigns also operates in the open, especially where laws require full disclosure of contributors, in contrast to contributions to elected representatives, which are harder to trace[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/legal-and-political-magazines/referendums-and-plebiscites).
Low turnout raises a legitimacy problem of its own. In most cases a minority of, usually better-off, citizens decided referendum policies for the whole society, which inevitably raises the question of legitimacy; nations in transition, by comparison, averaged turnout between 50% and higher[7](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.12790).
## References
1. Bringing the policy in: a new typology of national referendums (European Political Science, 2019): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-019-00230-4
2. The World of Referendums (Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau, 2024): https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2024.pdf
3. The World of Referendums (2023 edition, ZDA): https://www.zdaarau.ch/wp-content/uploads/world_of_referendums_2023.pdf
4. Referendums on EU issues: Fostering civic engagement (European Parliament Research Service, 2022): https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/729358/EPRS_IDA(2022)729358_EN.pdf
5. Referendums and Plebiscites (Encyclopedia.com): https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/legal-and-political-magazines/referendums-and-plebiscites
6. Referendums: Theory and History (chapter in Referendums Around the World, Springer 2024): https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-49096-5_2
7. Referendum Policies across Political Systems (The Political Quarterly): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.12790
8. Referendums Around the World (Springer, 2024): https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49096-5
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Elections and representation › Elections and referendums › Referendum events › Issue and policy referendums › Issue and policy referendum overview*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license