Full Text of Proposed Amendment
- IF MATERIAL IS UNDERSCORED, IT IS NEW MATERIAL WHICH IS BEING ADDED.
- IF MATERIAL IS OVERSTRUCK, THE MATERIAL IS BEING DELETED.
- IF MATERIAL IS NOT UNDERSCORED OR OVERSTRUCK, THE MATERIAL IS EXISTING LAW THAT IS NOT BEING CHANGED.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA:
North Dakota Constitution is amended and reenacted as follows:
ARTICLE III
ELECTION INTEGRITY ACT AND POWERS RESERVED TO THE PEOPLE
Section 1. While the legislative power of this state shall be vested in a legislative assembly consisting of a senate and a house of representatives, the people reserve the power to propose and enact laws by the initiative, including the call for a constitutional convention; to approve or reject legislative Acts, or parts thereof, by the referendum; to propose and adopt constitutional amendments by the initiative; and to recall certain elected officials. This article is self-executing and all of its provisions are mandatory. Laws may be enacted to facilitate and safeguard, but not to hamper, restrict, or impair these powers.
Section 2. A petition to initiate or to refer a measure must be presented to the secretary of state for approval as to form. A request for approval must be presented over the names and signatures of twenty-five or more electors as sponsors, one of whom must be designated as chairman of the sponsoring committee. The secretary of state shall approve the petition for circulation if it is in proper form and contains the names and addresses of the sponsors and the full text of the measure.
The legislative assembly may provide by law for a procedure through which the legislative council may establish an appropriate method for determining the fiscal impact of an initiative measure and for making the information regarding the fiscal impact of the measure available to the public.
Section 3. The petition shall be circulated only by electors. They An initiative petition shall be submitted only by citizens of North Dakota. Circulators of petitions shall swear thereon that the electors who have signed the petition did so in their presence. Each elector signing a petition shall also write in the date of signing and his post-office address. No law shall be enacted limiting the number of copies of a petition. The copies shall become part of the original petition when filed. No law shall be enacted limiting how circulators of a petition may be paid.
Section 4. The petition may be submitted to the secretary of state if signed by electors equal in number to two percent of the resident population of the state at the last federal decennial census.
Section 5. An initiative petition shall be submitted not less than one hundred twenty days before the statewide election at which the measure is to be voted upon. A referendum petition may be submitted only within one-hundred-eighty days ninety after the filing of the measure with the secretary of state. The submission of a referendum petition within ninety days after the filing of the measure with the secretary of state shall suspend the operation of any measure enacted by the legislative assembly except emergency measures and appropriation measures for the support and maintenance of state departments and institutions. The submission of a petition against one or more items or parts of any measure shall not prevent the remainder from going into effect. A referred measure may be voted upon at a statewide election or at a special election called by the governor.
Section 6. The secretary of state shall pass upon each petition, and if the secretary of state finds it insufficient, the secretary of state shall notify the ‘committee for the petitioners” and allow twenty days for correction. All decisions of the secretary of state in regard to any petition are subject to review by the supreme court. But if the sufficiency of the petition is being reviewed at the time the ballot is prepared, the secretary of state shall place the measure on the ballot and no subsequent decision shall invalidate the measure if it is at the election approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon. If proceedings are brought against any petition upon any ground, the burden of proof is upon the party attacking it and the proceedings must be filed with the supreme court no later than seventy-five days before the date of the statewide election at which the measure is to be voted upon.
Section 7. All decisions of the secretary of state in the petition process are subject to review by the supreme court in the exercise of original jurisdiction. A proceeding to review a decision of the secretary of state must be filed with the supreme court no later than seventy- five days before the date of the statewide election at which the measure is to be voted upon. If the decision of the secretary of state is being reviewed at the time the ballot is prepared, the secretary of state shall place the measure on the ballot and no court action shall invalidate the measure if it is approved at the election by a majority of the votes cast thereon.
Section 8. If a majority of votes cast upon an initiated or a referred measure are affirmative, it shall be deemed enacted. An initiated or referred measure which is approved shall become law thirty days after the election, and a referred measure which is rejected shall be void immediately. If conflicting measures are approved, the one receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall be law. A measure approved by the electors may not be repealed or amended by the legislative assembly for seven years from its effective date, except by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house.
Section 9. A constitutional amendment may be proposed by initiative petition. If signed by electors equal in number to four percent of the resident population of the state at the last federal decennial census, the petition may be submitted to the secretary of state. All other provisions relating to initiative measures apply hereto. Notwithstanding the legislative assembly’s authority to propose amendments to this constitution under article I V, section 16 thereof, the legislature may only propose a constitutional amendment with a two-thirds supermajority of votes of each house. Any amendment to this constitution initiated or referred shall only be placed on the even year November general election ballot. In any case of a conflict between any provision of this article and any other provision of this constitution, the provisions of this article shall control.
Section 10. Any elected official of the state, of any county or of any legislative or county commissioner district shall be subject to recall by petition of electors equal in number to twenty-five ten percent of those who voted at the preceding general election for the office of governor in the state, county, or district in which the official is to be recalled.
The petition shall be filed with the official with whom a petition for nomination to the office in question is filed, who shall call a special election if he finds the petition valid and sufficient. No elector may remove his name from a recall petition.
The name of the official to be recalled shall be placed on the ballot unless he resigns within ten days after the filing of the petition. Other candidates for the office may be nominated in a manner provided by law. When the election results have been officially declared, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be deemed elected for the remainder of the term. No official shall be subject twice to recall during the term for which he was elected.
Section 11. The intent of this Article is to ensure the people’s right to free and fair elections by ensuring election integrity by providing transparency for the verification of the election process and election results.
Section 12. An election is not a legally binding election if the election process and the election results cannot be verified or audited by the qualified electors of the state.
Section 13. Because voting integrity is essential to ensuring freedom and individual liberty, all voting in North Dakota elections shall be done by paper ballots and counted by hand starting on the day of the election and continuing uninterrupted until hand counting is completed. The hand counting of ballots shall be administered by a duly elected county auditor. Any qualified electors of the state shall be allowed to observe the hand counting process of any election. The use of unsupervised public drop boxes to collect ballots is prohibited.
Section 14. Use of any type of voting machines or electronic processing devices for ballot counting in North Dakota elections are prohibited.
Section 15. All voting will be completed only on election day. Early voting is prohibited.
Section 16. All county precincts must have an open polling location(s) and all county precincts shall have a paper poll book specific to that precinct. All ballots shall have precinct specific watermarks and bear the seal of the county in which it will be used;
Section 17. Absentee ballots will only be mailed to voters who request one for a specific election in writing within a reasonable time period prior to Election Day. Absentee ballots will not be automatically sent to voters without a written request submitted for each election. Mail-in ballots are otherwise prohibited;
Section 18. Ranked-Choice voting and Approval voting are prohibited in the State of North Dakota.
Section 19. The secretary of state shall adopt rules providing for the preservation and scanning of all ballots cast in an election. The rules must require the following:
- 24 hours after all ballots have been counted by hand, all ballots cast in an election shall be scanned electronically;
- Each ballot cast in an election shall be preserved at least until the ballot is scanned;
- Electronic versions of the scanned ballots from all elections shall be made available on the secretary of state’s website for no less than six years; and
- A paper copy of a scanned ballot(s) from any election shall be made available to any individual upon request and payment of a nominal fee to be set by the secretary of state.
Section 20. The people of the State of North Dakota shall be guaranteed free and fair elections with results which are able to be audited. All elections shall be verified or audited at any time by any qualified elector(s) of the state or citizen(s) of the United States who requests to do so. No citizen will be denied access to election information resulting from an auditable election with the exception that the identity of individual voters shall not be revealed on ballots that have been cast;
Section 21. The requirements of this Article shall not be suspended for any reason;
Section 22. Penalty. Any person that has been found by a court of general jurisdiction of violating the requirements of sections 1 1 through 21 of this Article shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor and shall have personal civil liability to those whose rights under this Article they have violated;
Section 23. This Article is self-executing and effective retroactively to June 1, 2024.
Section 24. The provisions of this article are severable, and if any provision is held to be invalid, either on its face or as applied, the remaining provisions and their application shall not be affected thereby. In any case of a conflict between any provision of this article and any other provision of this constitution, the provisions of this article shall control.
