States Ask Voters to Raise Amendment Thresholds in 2026

Voters in a handful of states will weigh in on ballot measures this year that could raise the thresholds needed to pass state constitutional amendments, making it significantly harder for citizens to enact policy changes directly. Proponents argue the changes protect state constitutions from being “cluttered” with policy matters, while critics say they undermine the core principle of majority rule.

According to NPR, voters in North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Missouri will consider measures to raise approval thresholds for constitutional amendments, with California also voting on a related measure affecting local tax initiatives. Of the 26 states that allow citizens to place ballot measures before voters, only Florida currently requires 60% approval for constitutional amendments.

The Measures at Stake

Each state’s proposal takes a slightly different approach. In North Dakota, Measure 2 would raise the approval threshold for constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%, applying to both citizen-initiated and legislatively referred amendments. South Dakota’s Amendment L similarly requires 60% approval for all constitutional amendments and revisions.

Utah voters will consider a measure requiring 60% approval for ballot initiatives that would impose new taxes or expand existing taxes. In California, Proposition 43 asks voters to require a two-thirds supermajority vote for local special tax initiatives.

Perhaps the most unusual proposal is Missouri’s Amendment 4, which would require that any citizen-initiated constitutional amendment pass in each of the state’s eight congressional districts, rather than just receiving a statewide majority. Notably, this threshold would not apply to amendments referred to the ballot by the legislature. The measure appears on the August 4 primary ballot.

A Growing National Debate

Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a nonprofit that backs ballot measures promoting social and economic justice, described the trend in stark terms.

“The theme of 2026 is the battle over direct democracy availability itself,” Hall told NPR. “This is a really powerful tool … and one of the most frequent topics that we will see voted on this November is, can voters continue to exercise that right meaningfully?”

Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, called the efforts to raise vote thresholds the “antithesis of democracy.”

“What we all learn in our American public education system is that our democracy is anchored in majority rule,” Savwoir said. “I understand ‘majority’ to be 50% plus one. But when extremist lawmakers decide that they don’t like progressive policy, when they decide that they don’t like the thing that’s going to materially enhance someone’s life, then they start to change the goal posts.”

The Case for Higher Thresholds

Republican lawmakers pushing for these changes argue that a simple majority threshold makes amending state constitutions too easy — and too frequent. Republican state Rep. Robin Weisz of North Dakota, who led the effort to increase his state’s approval threshold, said the constitution is being “cluttered up” with items that do not belong there.

“We’re seeing a lot of issues that to me don’t belong in the constitution,” Weisz told NPR. “North Dakota is a small state. It doesn’t take a lot of money to influence an issue.”

Weisz argued that many issues added to the state’s constitution would be better suited as statutory-initiated measures, which citizen groups can propose and lawmakers can later amend. “The [state] constitution to me is basically a sacred document,” he said. “Part of the job of the constitution is to protect the rights of the minority to make sure a simple majority cannot override and, you might say, punish the minority, much like our U.S. Constitution.”

In South Dakota, Republican state Rep. John Hughes expressed frustration that voters often do not distinguish between constitutional amendments and statutory measures. “Sadly, our citizens don’t understand the significance of a constitutional amendment versus an initiated measure that enacts a statute,” he said during a hearing. “Statutes can be changed readily as conditions change. The constitution is relatively static.”

The Florida Precedent

The debate is not hypothetical. As NPR reported, Florida’s 2024 amendment to enshrine abortion rights received 57% of the vote but failed because the state requires 60% approval. Since Florida adopted the 60% requirement in 2006, multiple citizen-led amendments have won a majority of voters but failed to become law.

Broader Restrictions on Direct Democracy

The 2026 ballot measures are part of a broader trend. In recent years, Republican-led states have enacted new limits on the initiative process, including restrictions on citizen-led groups that gather signatures for petitions, as NPR has documented. These latest efforts create longer odds for measures that do manage to make it on the ballot.

Zebadiah Johnson of the Voter Defense Association of South Dakota pushed back against the narrative that voters are amending constitutions too frequently. He noted that since 2002, the vast majority of proposed amendments in South Dakota have failed — only 15 out of 37 met the simple majority threshold.

“Despite the rhetoric surrounding this resolution, South Dakotans are not amending our constitution every election cycle and do not take these proposed amendments lightly,” Johnson told lawmakers. “We need to trust our voters to make the correct decisions for our state with the principle of majority rule.”

What’s at Stake

Hall warned that the consequences of these measures extend beyond any single policy debate. “When we lose the ability to make change at the state level and when we lose a tool like direct democracy that allows voters to have a check on power,” she said, “we lose it for good.”

Missouri’s Amendment 4 will be the first test of voter sentiment, appearing on the August 4 primary ballot. The remaining measures will be decided in the November 3 general election, giving voters across multiple states a collective say in the future of direct democracy in America.