Referendum

Payday lenders in Ohio, who want to reverse a new state law regulating imposing a 28 percent limit on the interest they may charge, have finally received the go-ahead to collect signatures on a referendum. But the state attorney general is warning that if the referendum should pass, discrepancies between the petition and the law could cause legal confusion. In fact, it appears that if the payday measure passes, two different numerical limits on the interest in such loans would be enshrined in state law.

Those who voted no in the June referendum say they didn't have enough information about the Lisbon Treaty and what it would mean for Ireland and the EU, according to the Irish Times. Quintin Oliver, who runs one of Europe's top firms for referenda campaigns, Strategem in Northern Ireland, says here that the yes campaign "didn't sell the future under the Treaty in a positive, simple, coherent, lucid way. They confused it and they looked backwards. They suggested that gratitude to Europe would be enough to secure a 'yes' vote, and that was not the right way." Oliver also argues that the "yes" side did do the extensive focus group and survey work that successful ballot measure campaigns require, whatever their subject or location.

A leading member of Parliament in Iran is calling on the government to submit its economic plan directly to the public via referendum.

When we talk about initiatives and referenda, we're usually talking about states and localities. But other governments use ballot measures as well. Large universities and their student governments often permit initiatives and referenda. And then there's Indian country.

As they gain wealth and political power, Native American tribes are putting more and more questions up for a vote of their members. Here's an account of a referendum held by the Pawnee Nation to determine whether the tribe should establish its own separate judiciary.

If an Irish butterfly flaps its wings, does it start a storm in Austria? Apparently so. Direct democracy is so powerful that a vote in one country can topple governments in others. Austria's coalition government collapsed today, a victim -- at least in part -- of last month's Irish "no" vote on a referendum over the Lisbon Treaty, a back-door new constitution for the European Union.

What's the link? After Ireland, the only one of the 27 EU countries to permit a public referendum on the treaty, voted it down, Austrian Prime Minister Alfred Gusenbauer said that future EU treaties should be subject to referenda there in Austria. The right of center Austrian People's Party, which was part of the Social Democrat Gusenbauer's governing coalition, opposes such referenda and decided -- for this and other reasons -- to leave the government.

10 MEASURES IN OREGON: Here's a look at what voters there will be facing in November.

SAN DIEGO PORT ACCUSED: A taxpayer group claims that an ad campaign by San Diego's Port District to oppose a November city ballot measure that would allow a huge deck to be constructed over part of the port. A hotel or even a stadium could be built there, and port officials argue this would be disruptive to their operations, the Union-Tribune reports.

ALASKA WATER: The courts have cleared an Alaska ballot initiative to clean water and put new regulations on mines for the November ballot.

MARYLAND SLOTS: Penn National Gaming, a Pennsylvania-based casino operator, is seeking an option to purchase land in Cecil County, where it might be able to build a casino if Maryland voters approve a November referendum permitting slots in the state.

Some citizens of Burlington, Vermont, are angry that Al-Jazeera's English-language affiliate is available on their city's cable TV system. They're putting together a referendum on the question of whether the channel should be removed from local cable.

An aide to the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the supreme leader of Iraq's Shiites, says the public must have the right to vote on the military agreement that Iraq's government and the U.S. are now negotiating.

Indiana does not have statewide initiatives or referenda. But the legislature there, in an effort to put downward pressure on property taxes, passed a new requirement in March: that a local referendum be conducted on large-scale construction. The referendum is required on K-8 school construction of $10 million or more, high school construction of $20 million or more, and all other public projects of $12 million or more. The referenda have begun, and the Journal Gazette, the paper in Ft. Wayne, takes a thorough look at the change.

One would think that there'd be no easier sale than a new hockey rink and curling facility in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Well, some citizens there think the $61 million (Canadian dollars) is too high a price tag, and want a referendum.