Voting Out a Monarchy

In 1946, a year after the fall of fascism there, the Kingdom of Italy held a nationwide referendum on whether to continue as a constitutional monarchy—under the reign of King Victor Emmanuel III, who had appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister in 1922 — or become a democratic republic.  On June 2, 1946, the people voted overwhelmingly to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic, which is celebrated every June 2 as Italy’s Republic Day.

The 1946 Italian referendum ballot. From Wikipedia.

The next No Kings events in the US will be held this Saturday, Oct. 17. Their main focus is turning out the vote and urging people to vote early. More votes cast early equal less to gain for those who would meddle with the election.

Be sure to find out in advance what’s on your ballot, which often includes initiatives, amendments, or other ballot measures. In many cases, not voting on a measure counts as a “no” vote —you could be helping defeat something you would actually support if you knew about it in advance.

Find ballot and voting information in Minnesota here.

For people in other states, check your Secretary of State’s office, which will have a dot-gov url. Another reputable site is Ballotpedia,

Be leery of other sites claiming to offer ballot information. Websites spreading misinformation and false claims about the prevalence of fraud are out there, sometimes with the word “truth” in their names.