Local option is the freedom in the United states whereby local political jurisdictions, typically counties or municipalities, can decide by popular vote certain controversial issues within their borders. In practice, it usually relates to the issue of alcoholic beverage sales. As described by an encyclopedia in 1907, local option is the "licence granted to the inhabitants of a district to extinguish or reduce the sale of intoxicants in their midst." A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ...

Local option regarding alcohol was first used in the temperance movement as a means to bring about prohibition gradually. The Anti-Saloon League initially decided to use local option as the mechanism to bring about nation-wide prohibition. Its intent was to work across the country as the local level. A Temperance Movement (see definition of temperance) attempts to greatly reduce the amount of alcohol consumed or even prohibit its production and consumption entirely. ... Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. ... The Anti-Saloon League was the leading organization lobbying for [[prohibition]] in the United States in the early 20th century. ...

Following the repeal of National Prohibition in 1933, some states chose to maintain prohibition within their own borders and some chose to permit local option on the controversial issue. In the remainder of states, there was no prohibition. Overlying this patchwork of prohibition, many states (known as alcoholic beverage control states) decided to establish their own monopolies over the wholesaling and/or retailing of alcoholic beverages. One county in Maryland has used local option to establish its alcohol control monopoly within its borders. A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law. ... Alcoholic beverage control states, generally called control states, are those in the United States that have state monopoly over the wholesaling and/or retailing of some or all categories of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine, distilled spirits. ... This article is about economic monopoly. ...

There are several hundred "dry" (prohibition) counties in states across the country.

Source

Based on materials in Alcohol: Problems and Solutions, which contains additional information.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopaedia. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Nuttall Encyclopaedia is an early 20th century encyclopedia, edited by Rev. ...