Voter Participation: Australian/secret ballot; direct primaries; direct election of U.S. senators; initiative, referendum, and recall; social welfare (jan 1, 1890 – jan 1, 1920)

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A major part of the Progressive Platform was increasing voter participation by removing barriers that, for decades, had dissuaded many citizens from practicing their suffrage. Examples of this were the adoption of the Australian/secret ballot – whereby voters made their choices secretly in private booths (which diminished the intimidation tactics of political parties), direct primaries which allowed voters to determine the nomination of candidates (replacing “boss rule” politics), and the direct election of U.S. Senators by popular vote instead of selection by state legislatures (which was made mandatory for all states with the ratification of the 17th Amendment). Progressives also advocated for establishing methods by which voters to force state legislatures to comply with the people’s demands; these included initiatives (by which voters could force state legislatures to consider a bill), referendums (which enabled the people to vote directly on certain proposed laws on their ballots), and recalls (a method by which voters could remove an unsatisfactory elected politician from office). Volunteers also played a huge rule in the reforms of the Progressive era by continuing on the example set by settlement workers and devoting themselves to social welfare. They advocated and lobbied for laws that helped improve schools, established juvenile courts, loosened divorce laws, expanded safety regulations for tenements and factories, created a system of parole, and limited the use of the death penalty.

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