American Voters Are Turning to Direct Democracy

American democracy is in trouble—and that’s expert opinion.

According to The Economist’s annual Democracy Index report, the United States in 2017 qualified as a “flawed democracy” for the second year running, which indicates citizens’ deepening distrust of the country’s electoral system and its politicians, among other issues. Other recent analyses have sounded alarm bells, too. Congressional gridlock is worsening. Partisan polarization is increasing. The “big sort”—the geographic self-segregation of like-minded Americans—has distorted representation. So has rampant gerrymandering. As a result of both kinds of distortion, many politicians across the country do not necessarily speak with the voice of their constituents, at both the federal and state levels.

But faced with these new problems, many voters are turning to . Through citizen-led ballot measures, voters in many states can use the power of direct democracy to bypass state legislatures and create new laws. These measures