Archive of North Dakota Watchdog Networks' Efforts To Protect The Powers Reserved To The People

April 22, 2022

Today, the petition to increase the threshold on constitutional measures submitted paperwork to the Secretary of State to gain ballot access approval for their measure.

This proposed measure does two things:

1) requires a 60% vote for all constitutional ballot measures (both initiated, and those placed on the ballot by the legislature), and;

2) declares a "single-subject rule" for constitutional measures (but does not define the meaning of "single-subject, which varies from state to state).

This proposed measure is such an attack on the process, that the Fargo Forum wrote a scathing editorial against it as soon as it was proposed a year ago:

From the Fargo Forum on April 15th, 2021:

By law, an initiated ballot measure that is supported by a simple majority is enough to amend the constitution. That’s a threshold that has been in place for deca…