The 'people's outlet': How ballot initiatives shape Colorado policies

For more than a century, Colorado voters have used the ballot box not just to elect leaders but also to make laws, shaping the state’s most defining policies through citizen-led initiatives.

Those two avenues of policymaking — the first by legislators, the second by citizens — represent yet another point of tension inherent to America’s grand experiment in representative democracy. At times, it leads to reaction and counter-reaction, both within and outside the state Capitol.

The threat of a ballot measure, for one, can prompt legislators to act.

Indeed, some see the initiative process as a counterbalance to the Colorado legislature, serving as a check on state policymakers, at times overriding their will. Others prefer the legislative process, with its committee hearings and voting req