Gloria McDonough, age 15, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, for her question:

WHAT IS AN INITIATIVE AND A REFERENDUM?

Through an initiative, the voters of a city or state can introduce a new law. Through the referendum, a proposed law is submitted to the people for their approval.

Both the initiative and the referendum are actions that allow the people a certain amount of direct control over lawmaking.

Both the initiative and referendum let the people take action if their representatives refuse to pass some legislation that the people want. A few laws have been passed this way. But these processes are too clumsy and too costly to take the place of a lawmaking body.

In states and cities that use the initiative, anyone can draw up a proposed law. If a specified number of voters sign a petition favoring it, the proposed law goes to the lawmaking body, which must vote on it.

In a referendum, a proposed law is set out on the ballot at an election. The statuatory referendum passes on laws proposed by an initiative or those enacted by a legislative body.

Many cities and states require that certain proposed measures be submitted on a ballot to the voters at regular elections. These measures often involve large amounts of money, such as bond issues.

Many places demand such laws as amendments to a charter or constitution must always be submitted to a referendum after approval by the lawmakers.

While the initiative has been known only recently, the referendum has been used for hundreds of year. Two cantons, or states, in Switzerland, for example, have had the referendum since the 1500s.

The movement for initiative and referendum in the United States grew in the late 1800s.

Today, the power of initiative and referendum is provided by laws in many cities and 21 states in the United States.

These laws often include an additional provision called the recall. This is a method of removing certain elected officials from office by a vote of the people.

In Great Britain, no provision for the initiative and referendum as such has been made. But the principle of the referendum is a regular part of the British election system.

In Canada, the initiative and referendum have been discussed, but no steps have been taken as yet to provide for them by law.