Opponents of Measure 2 say Ballot Measure Reforms Will ‘Handcuff Citizens’

Robert Harms speaks during the Greater North Dakota Chamber Policy Summit on Sept. 10, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) -Proponents of a ballot measure to change the requirements for future ballot measures say change is needed to protect North Dakota’s constitution from fraud and out-of-state influence.

But opponents say Measure 2, which voters will decide this November, will “handcuff citizens” and take power away from the people.

The North Dakota Legislature voted in 2023 in favor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 4013, which places the measure on the ballot. The main changes are:

• Future ballot measures would be limited to a single subject.
• The signature requirement would increase from 4% to 5% of the North Dakota population.
• Ballot measures would need to be approved by voters twice – first during a statewide primary and again in the following general election.
• Sponsors of the measure and petition circulators would need to be eligible to vote in North Dakota. Those who sign petitions need to provide complete residential addresses.

State Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, was a primary sponsor of the legislative resolution. Myrdal said during a recent podcast discussion on Measure 2 that she is worried about out-of-state interests funding changes to North Dakota laws.

“In the process now with the constitutional initiated measure, it doesn’t come from the grassroots. I wish it did, but it doesn’t,” Myrdal said during the podcast with Forum Communications columnist Rob Port. “I think it just comes from deep-pocketed people.”

Robert Harms, a former state Republican Party chair, spoke out against the measure during a recent Greater North Dakota Chamber event.

Harms said he agrees that out-of-state interests have funded previous ballot measures with bad policies for North Dakota, but he doesn’t think Measure 2 addresses that issue.

“It handcuffs citizens, it handcuffs people to address constitutional changes that they want to make by the 5% mechanism and having two campaigns to go through,” Harms said. “But if I’m a big money interest organization from California, I can pay for signature gatherers. I can go through two campaigns to get the constitutional changes that I’m looking for.”

Harms also said he thinks it’s “un-American” to force voters to vote twice to get the policy they support.

Myrdal said requiring two votes provides more opportunity for debate about the measures.

A supermajority of lawmakers advanced the resolution to reform ballot measures on the heels of a measure approved by voters in November 2022 to limit legislative term limits. The measure, which limits state lawmakers to serving eight years in each chamber, was mired in fraud allegations related to the signature gathering. A county prosecutor declined to file charges.

Myrdal said the ballot measure process lacks transparency and many times residents are confused on what they are actually voting for.

“I haven’t met one constituent yet in my district that didn’t think they were voting for term limits for Congress,” Myrdal said.

Dustin Gawrylow, managing director for North Dakota Watchdog Network, said he finds it hypocritical that the ballot measure contains several provisions but it would limit future ballot measures to a single subject.

“Lawyers can fight all day and all night over what a single subject is,” Gawrylow said during an event at the North Dakota Kennedy Center last week.

Gawrylow cited South Dakota’s recent ballot initiative that was successfully challenged in state court by Gov. Kristi Noem that would have legalized recreational marijuana, medical marijuana and hemp as a violation of the state’s single subject rule.

“They were able to manage and manipulate their laws, which have the single subject rule in them, to get the will of the people overturned after the fact,” he said.

Myrdal said Measure 2 doesn’t violate the single subject rule because the changes would be made to the constitutional initiated ballot measures process, which is a single subject.

One attendee of the Measure 2 event, Brad Carroll of Bismarck, said he believes the people would lose power if the ballot measure were to pass this fall.

“You are going to have some you agree with and some that you don’t agree with,” Carroll said. “But the process needs to remain solid, needs to remain steady without all of the back and forth, and what that does is just confuse people more.”

Another attendee, Kent Rath of Sterling, said the debate over ballot measures is the result of not holding state lawmakers accountable at the ballot box. He doesn’t think voting on the same measure twice is necessary.

“One person, one vote,” Rath said.