Should gays be allowed to marry? Should rich people be taxed more? Should marijuana be legalised? Should gambling be expanded? US voters going to the polls next month to select a president will consider these state and local initiatives and others that range from spending $3 billion on stem cell research to a relatively small amount to eradicate weeds.
In California, where 16 initiatives are on the ballot, local channels almost never air commercials for President Bush or Senator John Kerry because the state is considered safely Democratic. But the airways are flooded with initiative ads.
"In one sense it is good because the arguments are going to get out about the ballot propositions," said Mr John Matsusaka, head of the Initiative and Referendum Institute in California.
Voters in a dozen states, including Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Arkansas, will weigh in on gay marriage, an issue that rose to the forefront after San Francisco permitted the marriages of more than 4,000 gay couples earlier this year and the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in its favour.
"Men and women getting married, having children, that's the basis of our society," said Ms Marlene Elwell, chairwoman of Michigan's Citizens for the Protection of Marriage.
In recent weeks, voters in Missouri and Louisiana have already passed a ban on gay marriage, and most other states considering the issue are likely to follow their lead.
Another contentious issue among 157 state initiatives involves casinos, including a California measure to allow slot machines at racetracks and card rooms. Interested parties are spending tens of millions of dollars to influence opinions.
"Over the last 20 years, voters are changing their minds and they are viewing it less as a moral issue and more as an economic issue," said Mr Matsusaka, who is also a finance professor at the University of Southern California. "They are not thinking about it being a moral failure, but as a business enterprise that can create jobs and generate tax revenues."
Many initiatives spend money, including, most dramatically, a $3 billion California bond to fund stem cell research that will cost another $3 billion in interest over 30 years.
In California, where voters have already mandated that about 40 per cent of state spending go towards elementary and secondary schools, every new obligation further ties the hands of legislators.
"It is unhealthy for this reason: the state has been in desperate financial straits for a few years," said Mr Tim Hodson, director of the Centre for California Studies. "It hobbles the ability of state government to come up with a rational budget."
Still, voters like deciding on spending and revenue. South Dakota may exempt food from sales taxes and Colorado could boost cigarette taxes to pay health insurance for low-income families. California could enact a new tax on the wealthy.
Montana residents will decide whether they want to spend $10 million to fight noxious weeds. Alaska will decide whether to legalise fully the most contentious weed, marijuana.
Some issues will have secondary budgetary impacts.
California is considering a change to its "Three Strikes" law - passed by voters in 1994 - to give increased jail sentences for repeat offenders only for a more serious third crime. In Arizona, voters could bar undocumented immigrants from public services.