A legislative committee is advancing a measure to ask South Dakota voters whether the state should increase the threshold to pass constitutional amendments.
The proposal would require constitutional amendments on the ballot to receive 60 percent of the vote to pass. Currently they pass with a simple majority.
This comes after South Dakota voters saw a surge in ballot questions in several recent elections. There were seven ballot questions in the 2024 election.
Rep. John Hughes is the bill’s prime sponsor. The Sioux Falls Republican said constitutional amendments should have a higher threshold than initiated measures.
“In recent years, South Dakota has become a meeting point, a convergence point, for out-of-state interests to take advantage of and exploit that majority, and to raise large amounts of money that do not share our shared rights, liberties and values,” Hughes said.
He also noted the resolution does not create a new law, but rather puts the question to a public vote.
Opponents said South Dakotans have shown they don’t want this change, having twice recently rejected proposals to increase ballot question passage thresholds. They also said it takes power out of the hands of regular South Dakotans.
“This resolution would establish the joint-highest threshold for passage of an initiated measure in the entire country. Of the 24 states with a ballot initiative process, nearly all of them require a simple 50 percent for passage,” said Zebediah Johnson of the Voter Defense Association of South Dakota. “There is no need for South Dakota, which created the American ballot initiative, to deviate from the norm in such an extreme manner.”
The bill initially called for a two-thirds majority requirement to pass constitutional amendments, but Hughes introduced an amendment lowering the threshold to 60 percent.
House Joint Resolution 5003 passed House State Affairs in an 11 to two vote Friday. It next heads to the floor of the House.
