Season 1, Episode 1

What happens when the people decide?

Learn about what the ballot initiative is through a modern story and a bit of history.

A campaign in Michigan to end partisan gerrymandering in 2018, is part of a legacy of ballot initiatives dating back to the 1800s. In this episode, Jenna lays out the basics of the initiative, how it caught on in the United States, and the pros and cons that she will explore throughout the series.

In this Episode

Katie Fahey

Katie Fahey, executive director of The People. An experienced leader in the democratic reform movement, Katie leads The People in its mission to empower individuals to get involved in the political process. She led over 14,000 volunteers across Michigan to pass a ballot initiative in 2018 that made political gerrymandering illegal. 

Steven Piott

Steven Piott, professor emeritus of history at Clarion University of Pennsylvania and author of Giving Voters a Voice: The Origins of the Initiative and Referendum in America. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees in History from the University of Utah and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He has also been a Fulbright Teaching Fellow at Massey University in New Zealand. His current project concerns the long-running feud, dating back to the turn of the twentieth century, over water (and now dust pollution) between the city of Los Angeles and the Owens Valley.