ballot initiatives

基本解释

It was voters, for example, who by means of ballot initiatives insisted that the state spend more money on schools and stem-cell research.
比如说，那些通过公民投票当选的人坚持增加教育和肝细胞研究开支；
California’s governorship is a pretty weak one: the state’s government is a mess of competing districts, counties and cities, with much of the budget mandated by ballot initiatives.
加州州长本来就不是一个强势的位置：州政府由一群混乱的下级政府（地区、郡县、城市）组成，相互之间还多存在竞争关系，而且大多数的预算取决于全民投票的结果（译者注：加州的政治中全民投票是很重要的环节，经常被使用，甚至被某些政治研究机构称为加州政府的第四分支）。
It was he, as governor in 1978, who had to implement (having opposed it) Proposition 13, the most infamous of all ballot initiatives.
正是布朗1978年任州长期间不得不执行了第13号法案（他曾经反对过）。这是所有选民公投中最臭名昭著的一项法案。

Past California ballot initiatives have shown the perils of governing at the election booth.
FORBES: Frighteningly Unified Government In California
Hey, what are the couple of local races or ballot initiatives you think will have national implications?
NPR: It's Election Day in San Francisco
In November, voters in two California cities defeated ballot initiatives that would have imposed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.
FORBES: Is 2013 a Watershed Year for the Anti-Obesity Movement?