North Carolina is not one of those states — like California — that make it easy for people to put almost any idea on the ballot for a voter referendum. Still, a new publication from the Lucy Burns Institute — sponsor of Ballotpedia,org and Judgepedia.org — discusses ways in which North Carolinians can take the lead in restructuring their governments at the local level.

Those interested in changing North Carolina government at the state level should peruse the John Locke Foundation’s new book, First In Freedom: Transforming Ideas Into Consequences for North Carolina. John Hood devotes a full chapter to “rebooting” North Carolina’s operating system through a series of structural government reforms, including changes to the way North Carolina elects its judges.