(esp in Scotland, New Zealand, and the US) the privilege of a municipality, county, etc, to determine by referendum whether a particular activity, esp the sale of liquor, shall be permitted there
local option in American English
the right of determining by a vote of the residents whether something, as the sale of intoxicating liquors, shall be permitted in their locality
Examples of 'local option' in a sentence
local option
Local option laws permitted towns and counties to ban the sale of alcohol altogether.
Garraty, John Arthur The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)