Dave Hinz (in ) said:

| On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 16:23:52 -0500, Morris Dovey
| wrote:
|| Dave Hinz (in ) said:
||
||| The problem is, we can barely get half the people off their asses
||| to vote for _president_ once every four years. Not saying it's a
||| bad idea, just that as with anything else, a small percentage of
||| the population would be making the decisions. And, really, would
||| _you_ vote on every piece of legislation, or just the few that you
||| know/care about?
|
|| *Very* worthwhile question! Let's require a majority of registered
|| voters in favor of a proposition for passage. Still better, let's
|| also provide the opportunity to vote "no"; and if a 1/3 minority of
|| participating voters says "no", then the proposition fails.
|
| I'm not seeing the distinction between the two statements above
| which you seem to be distinguishing ?

I'll try again. For a referendum to succeed, at least a (simple)
majority of eligible voters need to get off their butts and vote
"Yes".

This means that the referendum can't succeed unless at least a simple
majority of the eligible voters think it's the right thing to do.

However, if as many as third of actual voters say "No", then the
measure fails even if a simple majority of eligible voters say "Yes".

The distinction is in the application of "eligible" and "actual.

The strategy is intended to prevent/minimize enactment of divisive
and/or poor quality legislation.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html