Adventures in BureaucracyBy Chris Shugart, April 13, 2005Out of the 50 states in the U.S., half of them have a legislative process that allows voters to directly ratify laws through state ballot initiatives and referendums. In my state of California, voters pass a handful of assorted laws and regulations via this process every state election.Years ago I began wondering what sort of results we get out of this process. Does it actually do any good? In the three decades that I've been a California voter, I sometimes ask myself, has the state actually improved itself due to so many new...