Alaska is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America.
[1] The Constitution of Alaska, itself ratified by a vote of the people in 1956, outlined specific guidelines for ballot measures in Article XI, stating that "the people may propose and enact laws by the initiative, and approve or reject acts of the legislature by the referendum.
"[2] Congress approved statehood in 1958 and when Alaska formally entered the union in 1959, it became the 20th state to have a system of direct voting.
[3] In 2004, the Alaskan Legislature took steps to limit the number of measures that could appear on the ballot each year.
[4] The new rules required that measures initiatives and referendums receive signatures from three-quarters of Alaska's legislative districts and increased the total number of signatures required to a tenth of voters in the most recent election.