Referenda

In the Connecticut town of Avon, voters have the right to hold as many as three separate referenda on the town budget before officials can enact a spending plan themselves. This spring, voters have used the referendum twice -- twice, in fact, in the past three weeks -- to vote down the town government's proposed budget. A third referendum is scheduled for June 25.

If you live in Southern California, you can hear me moderate a panel on local land use referenda tonight, June 1, at 9 p.m. on KPCC (89.3 FM).

DEATH PENALTY: The president of the African National Congress, South Africa's leading political party, talks up the possibility of holding a national referendum to reinstate the death penalty. Interest in the idea is driven by stubbornly high crime. 

IRISH CHILDREN: A group in Ireland is putting together a referendum to improve the rights of children there.

QUESTION TIME: Last year, San Francisco voted down a ballot initiative that would have required the mayor to submit to "question time" from the board of supervisors, in the same manner that British prime ministers must take questions in the House of Commons. But the board of supes hasn't given up, inviting Mayor Gavin Newsom to show up and take questions. He is declining these invitations. Newsom, who remains popular despite a public confession of adultery with a top aide's wife, has been deflecting requests for information of all kinds as he explores a race for governor in 2010. (Arnold is termed out, so the seat is open).

NO VOTE FOR EU TREATY: Brits want to vote on the highly unpopular EU Reform Treaty, also known as the Lisbon Treaty. This is the new European Union treaty negotiated last year to replace the proposed EU constitution that Dutch and French voters previously rejected on the ballot. What’s important about the constitution to those interested in blockbuster democracy? It includes a provision for a EU-wide referendum – which would be the first example of a transnational referendum in the world.

Aaah, but Labor PMs vote not to put the matter to a vote of the people. Of the 27 member states in the EU, only Ireland will let its people vote on the treaty.

NO SUPERVISION FOR BURMESE VOTE: No UN observers at Myanmar’s constitutional referendum. The junta, which killed and imprisoned monks during a crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last September, has banned speeches or writings about the referendum. The Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi would be banned under the proposed constitution from running for office because she was married to a foreigner.