List of Washington (state) ballot measures

Washington has three types of ballot measures that can be voted on in a general election: initiatives, referendums, and legislatively referred constitutional amendments.

[2] In recent years, ballot measures have been used to legalize politically contentious policies such as assisted suicide, same-sex marriage, and marijuana use.

Article XXIII, Section 1 dictated that constitutional amendments required passing by a two-thirds vote in the state legislature and being approved by a majority of voters in the next general election.

For one of these measures to be valid, it needed signatures of support from at least eight percent of the voting population, based on turnout from the previous election.

[14] The passage of Initiative Measure 1000 (the "Death with Dignity Act") in 2008 made Washington the second state in the nation to legalize assisted suicide.

[15] In 2012, Referendum Measure 74 passed, making Washington the ninth state to recognize same-sex marriage and the third to do so by popular vote.

[8] That same year, the passage of Initiative Measure 502 led to Washington becoming the first state to fully legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The practice has been criticized for potentially allowing campaigns to "buy their way onto the ballot", most notably by former Secretary of State Ralph Munro.