Partly for that reason, Taiwan’s referendum law prohibits the public from proposing questions on issues of national sovereignty like the island’s name, flag and territory. The president can, however, put such issues to referendum in existential emergencies, like an imminent takeover by mainland China.

While the Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally favored independence, it is not seeking to hold an independence referendum. But by holding votes on other issues and making them a part of Taiwan’s political culture, the government is creating the infrastructure and legitimacy that would be needed to hold an emergency referendum in the future.

“Saturday’s referendum furthers a long-held D.P.P. goal to get referendums institutionalized,” said Michael Fahey, a legal consultant based in Taipei. “Major sections of the D.P.P. always wanted to have some kind of referendum law in case there ever needs to be a referendum on self-determination, there will be a mechanism in place for doing that.”

One referendum question that did approach the issue of identity concerned what Taiwan should be called at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events. In a 1981 deal with the International Olympic Committee, Taiwan agreed to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.” But in recent years the people of Taiwan have increasingly sought to assert their identity, and a referendum question asked if the island should compete as “Taiwan” instead.

That proposal failed after a campaign warning that doing so might lead to Taiwan’s being banned from Olympic competition under Chinese pressure. The referendum result could allow Beijing to argue that the people of Taiwan are quite happy to be identified as Chinese.

Kolas Yotaka, a Taiwan government spokeswoman and former legislator who voted for the new referendum law last year, said the public had multiple complaints about the referendums on Saturday, including the large number of questions being asked.

“We think next time we’ll need to improve explanations of the content of the referendums,” Ms. Kolas said in an interview. “We also didn’t have enough time to have enough public debate.”