The Process of Direct Democracy: Colorado’s 1996 Parental Rights Amendment

Why are some statewide citizen initiatives in the American states successful at the polls and others not? Quantitative studies tend to emphasize the aggregate spending of the proponents and opponents of ballot measures when explaining ballot results. Substantial evidence, though, indicates that an array of nonmonetary variables also influence the outcomes of ballot measures. Through a critical case study of the failed 1996 Parental Rights Amendment in Colorado, we examine the impact of several variables typically ignored in more quantitative studies. We find that three variables in particular—the kind and size of financial contributions, grassroots support, and the rhetorical framing of the measure—are significant when explaining why some citizen initiatives succeed and others fail. These findings suggest that future quantitative analyses of the initiative process should take these variables into consideration. In 1996, Of the People, a conservative, nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Virginia poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Colorado to advance a single ballot initiative. As a result of the out-of-state group’s organizational and financial backing, Coloradans were asked to vote on a ballot question that would add to the list of the inalienable rights found in the state constitution, the right of parents to “direct and control the upbringing, education, values, and discipline of their children. ” Just two months before the election, it appeared as though Of the People’s ballot measure, known as the Parental Rights Amendment (PRA), would be passed by voters, as public support for the measure reache