Laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota


Laws governing ballot measures
State
• Laws governing state initiative processes
• Laws governing state recall processes
• Changes to ballot measure law in 2025
• Difficulty analysis of changes to laws governing ballot measures
• Analysis of 2025 changes to laws governing ballot measures
Local
• Laws governing local ballot measures
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This page provides an overview of resources addressing the laws and procedures that govern statewide and local ballot measures in North Dakota, including the initiative and referendum process, constitutional amendments, signature requirements, recall procedures, and campaign finance regulations.

Explore the links below for more information:

Laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota

Types of ballot measures in North Dakota

North Dakota has three types of citizen-initiated ballot measures: initiated constitutional amendments, initiated state statutes, veto referendums, and initiated constitutional convention questions.

In North Dakota, the legislature can refer constitutional amendments.

Laws governing the initiative process in North Dakota

In North Dakota, citizens have the power to initiate state statutes, constitutional amendments, and initiated constitutional convention questions, as well as the power to repeal legislation through veto referendums.

North Dakota adopted the initiative and referendum process in 1914, with voter approval of a two constitutional amendments.

Amending the North Dakota Constitution

North Dakota became a state in 1850. The current state constitution was ratified in 1879.

The North Dakota Constitution can be amended in three ways:
- Legislatively referred constitutional amendment: The state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot, with a simple majority vote in each legislative chamber.
- Initiated constitutional amendment: Citizens can initiate constitutional amendments in North Dakota.
- Convention-referred constitutional amendment: A state constitutional convention can vote to refer constitutional changes to the ballot.
  - According to Section 1 of Article III of the North Dakota Constitution, the state's initiative petition process is used to call a constitutional convention.

Laws governing local ballot measures in North Dakota

The North Dakota Constitution does not mention local initiative and referendum.

North Dakota law authorizes the initiative and referendum process for local commissions, council cities, city charters, and county charters.

Signature requirements for ballot measures in North Dakota

In North Dakota, the number of signatures required for ballot initiatives is tied to the state's population reported by the last decennial census.
- An initiated constitutional amendment requires a number of signatures equal to 4% of the state's population reported by the last decennial census.
- An initiated state statute or veto referendum requires a number of signatures equal to 2% of the state's population reported by the last decennial census.
Each initiative has its own unique deadline of one year after it was approved to circulate. The completed petition must be submitted at least 120 days prior to the election.
A referendum petition with the required number of signatures must be submitted within 90 days after the legislation being referred was signed by the governor and filed with the secretary of state.

Laws governing recall in North Dakota

The Article III, Sections 1 and 10 of the state constitution authorizes recall against statewide, legislative, and county officials. State law authorizes recall against all elected officials in the remaining political subdivisions of the state

Laws governing state constitutional conventions in North Dakota

According to Section 1 of Article III of the North Dakota Constitution, the state's initiative petition process is used to call a constitutional convention.

The North Dakota Constitution provides no mechanism under which the state legislature can initiate a call for a convention.

Campaign finance requirements for North Dakota ballot measures

In North Dakota, any group organized to support or oppose a ballot measure is defined as a measure committee. Measure committees must register a statement of organization with the North Dakota Secretary of State within 15 days of receiving a contribution or making an expenditure.

Changes to laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota

See also: Changes to laws governing ballot measures

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

See also: Changes in 2025 to laws governing ballot measures

House Bill 1138: State Sen. Paul Rose (R-32) sponsored the legislation. The bill changes the timeline of elections held for voters to approve or deny bond measures. Before the bill was passed, the date of the election was no less than 20 days after the measure was passed by the governing body (such as a city or county). Under HB 1138, elections for bond measures must be held no less than 64 days after a bond measure is passed by a governing body.^[1]

HB 1138 Vote	Senate			House
HB 1138 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	44	2	1	90	0	4
Democratic (D)	4	1	0	10	0	1
Republican (R)	40	1	1	80	0	3

House Bill 1204: Makes it a class A misdemeanor to publish an untrue, misleading, or deceptive political advertisement or news release regarding a ballot measure via text message, telephone call, on social media, or other commercial medium.^[2]

HB 1204 Vote	Senate			House
HB 1204 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	45	1	1	77	14	3
Democratic (D)	5	0	0	8	2	1
Republican (R)	40	1	1	69	12	2

House Bill 1482: Requires county, city, public school districts, or park districts to hold elections on statewide primary or regular election dates; changes the time for other municipalities to hold elections from at least 20 to 64 days after the initial resolution is passed; provides that spoiled or blank ballots cast at a local bond measure election can be counted as a no vote on a bond measure.^[3]

HB 1482 Vote	Senate			House
HB 1482 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	43	4	0	88	4	2
Democratic (D)	1	4	0	7	4	0
Republican (R)	42	0	0	81	0	2

Senate Concurrent Resolution 4007: Referred a constitutional amendment to the 2026 ballot that would create a single subject requirement for constitutional initiatives and legislatively referred constitutional amendments; prohibits the secretary of state from approving an initiative to circulate if the secretary of state determines the initiative embraces more than one subject.^[4]

SCR 4007 Vote	Senate			House
SCR 4007 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	46	1	0	57	36	1
Democratic (D)	4	1	0	0	11	0
Republican (R)	42	0	0	57	25	1

Senate Bill 2230: Requires the secretary of state to distribute materials to all active voters at least 45 days prior to an election on a ballot measure including an objective summary, a fiscal impact summary, whether the measure was initiated by citizens or referred by the legislature, and an objective analysis of a yes and no vote.^[5]

SB 2230 Vote	Senate			House
SB 2230 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	46	1	0	87	5	2
Democratic (D)	5	0	0	11	0	0
Republican (R)	41	1	0	76	5	2

Senate Bill 2269: Provides a recall process for removing elected members of the governing body of a city, park district, or school board.^[6]

SB 2269 Vote	Senate			House
SB 2269 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	46	0	1	56	32	6
Democratic (D)	5	0	0	10	0	1
Republican (R)	41	0	1	46	32	5

Senate Bill 2324: Allowed counties and cities to amend their home rule charters through a resolution when a portion of the charter is preempted, superseded, or invalidated by a legislative act or court order, without requiring a vote of the people.^[7]

SB 2324 Vote	Senate			House
SB 2324 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	45	1	1	85	6	3
Democratic (D)	5	0	0	5	4	2
Republican (R)	40	1	1	80	2	1

House Concurrent Resolution 3003: The amendment, which requires voter approval in 2026, was designed to require constitutional amendments initiated by citizens or referred by the state legislature to receive a 60% vote to be adopted.^[8]

HCR 3003 Vote	Senate			House
HCR 3003 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	33	13	1	65	28	1
Democratic (D)	1	4	0	0	11	0
Republican (R)	32	9	1	65	17	1

See also: Changes in 2023 to laws governing ballot measures

House Bill 1230: The legislation made willfully submitting fraudulent signatures for an initiative petition a crime punishable by a civil penalty of up to $3,000. The bill also provided that signature-gathering companies that willfully submit fraudulent signatures cannot do business in the state for five years following a fraud conviction.^[9]

HB 1230 Vote	Senate			House
HB 1230 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	39	6	2	48	43	3
Democratic (D)	3	1	0	2	10	0
Republican (R)	36	5	2	46	33	3

Senate Bill 2163: SB 2163 required summaries of ballot measures to be written in "plain, clear, understandable language using words with common, everyday meaning." As of 2023, the secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general, was responsible for writing the ballot summaries.^[10]

SB 2163 Vote	Senate			House
SB 2163 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	27	20	0	84	9	1
Democratic (D)	2	2	0	11	0	1
Republican (R)	25	18	0	73	9	0

State Rep. Jorin Johnson (R-41) said, "Plain language is a way of writing that uses smaller words and shorter sentences. This helps people understand the main ideas more clearly without inflated vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction."^[11]
State Sen. Judy Lee (R-13), who voted against the bill, said, "As one of our people who testified said, ’It’s a noble goal, but ‘readable’ is in the eye of the beholder.’ … There are no definitions for some of the words used in the bill like ‘common everyday meaning’… It’s just extremely hard to define."^[10]

Senate Concurrent Resolution 4013: The constitutional amendment requires voter approval on November 5, 2024. The Legislature passed a constitutional amendment to establish a single-subject rule for initiatives, increase the signature requirement for initiated constitutional amendments from 4% to 5% of the state's population, and required that voters approve initiated constitutional amendments at two elections.^[12]

SCR 4013 Vote	Senate			House
SCR 4013 Vote	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	44	3	0	73	18	3
Democratic (D)	2	2	0	1	10	1
Republican (R)	42	1	0	72	8	2

Sen. Janne Myrdal (R-19), who co-sponsored the amendment, said the amendment would curtail out-of-state influences in the initiative process and "make it a genuine, grassroots, North Dakota-organic thing from the grassroots up, with North Dakotans behind the wheel, if you will, to drive this train for changing our constitution."^[13]
Carol Sawicki, a board member of the League of Women Voters of North Dakota, testified against the amendment, saying, "Citizen-led initiated measures have a long history in North Dakota and play an important role in supporting citizen participation in the governance of the state. SCR 4013 intends to bring an end to that role."^[14]

See also: Changes in 2019 to laws governing ballot measures

House Bill 1035: The legislation required that fiscal impact statements for initiatives be included on the ballot.^[15]

House Bill 1036: The legislation required that fiscal impact statements for referred legislative measures and initiatives be included on the ballot.^[16]

House Bill 1037: The legislation changed the campaign finance requirements for donors to ballot measure campaigns. HB 1037 applied the requirements for out-of-state contributors to all contributors regardless of origin.^[17]

House Bill 1201: The legislation extends the restriction on recall elections from being prohibited in the same year as the next regularly scheduled election for an office to within one year of the upcoming regularly scheduled election for an office.^[18]

Senate Concurrent Resolution 4001 (Constitutional Measure 2): Voters rejected the constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. The constitutional amendment would have required voter-approved initiated constitutional amendments to also receive approval from the Legislature or be placed on the ballot for a second election requiring voter approval.^[19]

Footnotes

[1] North Dakota Legislative Branch, "House Bill 1138," accessed August 7, 2025

[2] North Dakota Legislative Assembly, "HB 1204," accessed May 19, 2025

[3] North Dakota Legislative Branch, "HB 1482," accessed April 29, 2025

[4] North Dakota Legislative Branch, "SCR 4007," accessed May 2, 2025

[5] North Dakota Legislative Branch, "SB 2230," accessed April 25, 2025

[6] North Dakota Legislative Branch, "SB 2269," accessed April 22, 2025

[7] North Dakota State Legislature, "SB 2324," accessed April 1, 2025

[8] North Dakota State Legislature, "SB 2324," accessed April 1, 2025

[9] North Dakota State Legislature, "Senate Bill 1230," accessed April 22, 2023

[nd2163-10] 10.0 ^10.1 North Dakota State Legislature, "Senate Bill 2163," accessed March 24, 2023

[11] The Dakotan, "'Plain Language' for Constitutional Measures Passes House," March 17, 2023

[12] North Dakota State Legislature, "Senate Concurrent Resolution 4013," accessed April 20, 2023

[13] The Bismarck Tribune, "North Dakota Senate OKs measure to tighten constitutional initiative process," February 21, 2023

[14] North Dakota State Legislature, "SCR 4013 Testimony," March 9, 2023

[15] North Dakota State Legislature, "House Bill 1035," accessed June 27, 2023

[16] North Dakota State Legislature, "House Bill 1036," accessed June 27, 2023

[17] North Dakota State Legislature, "House Bill 1037," accessed June 27, 2023

[18] North Dakota State Legislature, "House Bill 1201," accessed June 27, 2023

[19] North Dakota State Legislature, "Senate Concurrent Resolution 4001," accessed June 27, 2023

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Laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota

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Laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota

Changes to laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota

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