A petition for a popular initiative for union failed and only one member of the seven-person Swiss Federal Council, Foreign Affairs Minister Felix Calonder, strongly endorsed the idea.

[1] 120 years later, on 3 November 1918, following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the Provisional Provincial Assembly of Vorarlberg declared the region's succession from its union with Tyrol and the formation of an independent country within the framework of the German-Austrian state.

[1] The movement for a referendum for union with Switzerland began around the same time with Ferdinand Riedmann, a trained teacher, cinema owner, conservative, and member of the Linz Soldier Soviet of the Common Army.

[2][1] With the support of local craftsmen, tradesmen, small entrepreneurs, farmers, and petit bourgeois intelligentsia,[2][1] Riedmann founded the committee to Campaign for Union with Switzerland on 13 November 1918.

[2] Riedmann also praised the Swiss model of democracy and believed that Vorarlberg shared closer ties in terms of language, culture, lifestyle, and mindset with Switzerland than with the rest of Austria.

The group was only able to collect 29,000 signatures and only one member of the seven-person Swiss Federal Council, Foreign Affairs Minister Felix Calonder, strongly endorsed the idea.

[3] The exact numbers for the referendum have been contradicted by several sources due to errors in the transmission of results from several municipalities, leading to manual corrections of previously printed announcements.

The authority to raise the Vorarlberg question to the Allied powers rested solely with Austrian Chancellor Karl Renner and a few of his close advisors, who aimed to prevent the loss of any province.