Referendum

Venezuealan president Hugo Chavez has employed direct democracy of a fashion, backing a series of plebiscites to enhance his own power. (His defenders point out that he has allowed himself to lose one of these plebiscites--so there). The latest referendum, scheduled for next month, would lift term limits and allow him to run for re-election. But it's not going well. Chavez, without evidence, is accusing President-Elect Obama of interfering in the vote. The Venezuelan president also wants tear gas used on his opponents, according to this Reuters story.

... in Colorado Springs. This isn't an advisory vote on federal efforts like TARP. It's a likely vote on a city plan to use a tax to create a city fund that would help boost the local economy. There's plenty of opposition in Colorado Springs, the state's conservative stronghold. This local dispute may be worth watching. it pits Republicans who won't support bailouts vs. Republicans who will, and thus may provide a very local verdict on a bigger national debate.

Trash contracts and direct democracy have a long history in California cities. The awarding of lucrative contracts is one of the bigger decisions city councils stil make, in the post-Prop 13 world where the state, not local communities, make the big tax and spend decisons. And thus, there's a long history of smelly pay-to-play deals on local trash contracts. But in a state with such a long tradition of direct democracy, a council vote is usually just the beginning of the story. There have been dozens of recall campaigns launched over the awarding of trash contracts. And in some cities, the contract itself can be put to a referendum. Now, in the Los Angeles suburb of Montebello, it appears that the new trash contract may produce both a recall and a referendum.

West Patterson has become Woodland Park. Local voters approved the change in a referendum.

Joel Fox, writing at Fox & Hounds Daily, suggests a way to counter the California Democratic proposal to raise taxes without the usual two-thirds vote. The proposal is part of an effort to break a partisan logjam over how to respond to the state's budget crisis. Since some of the taxes are being classified as "fees," Fox suggests that opponents could put a referendum on the ballot. Under the state constitution, bills that raise taxes can't be subject to referendum. But there's nothing against qualifying a referendum on fees.

Liberals and Democrats in Southern California have been meeting to talk about initiative reform. Here's an update of what they're up to, via the Calitics blog.

IRAQI REFERENDUM: The 2009 referendum most important to Americans may take place in Iraq.   Sunni parties won a commitment for a public referendum by July 30, 2009 on the new security agreement between the U.S. and the Baghdad government. That agreement calls for full American withdrawal by the end of 2011. A vote by the Iraqi people to reject the agreement could lead to an even earlier withdrawal by the U.S.

POLL: UKRAINIANS WANT VOTE ON NATO MEMBERSHIP: Some 80 percent support a vote on whether to join NATO. The poll is less clear on what Ukrainians would do if they had such a vote.

 GREENLAND INDEPENDENCE: The world's biggest island votes for more independence from Denmark.

BULLYING THE IRISH: It looks like the Irish, who turned down the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, are going to be forced to vote again.

Not every ballot measure must be momentous: The frisbee folk in the north California city of Chico are angry about a decision to remove a disc golf course from a local park. So they're working to qualify a referendum to reverse the decision.

Taiwan has recently strengthened direct democracy, making referenda easier. And so the teachers association in the southern port city of Kaohsiung sought to use the enhanced referendum powers in the national law to reduce class sizes from 35 to 25 students. The measure failed however -- because fewer than 10 percent of voters showed up.

A crooked election in Chicago? Never. But it seems that in a liquor referendum in Chicago's Beverly community, voters weren't able to cast ballots for the first 90 minutes of balloting. The referendum, which would have permitted one local establishment to sell alcohol, lost, 63 votes to 59. More details are here.