Questions remain on new single-subject rule for amendments

FARGO (KVRR) — With North Dakota voters approving ballot measure 1 on Tuesday, questions still remain regarding how the single-subject rule will work.

The new amendment to the state’s constitution will limit any future constitutional amendments to a single subject.

Determining whether a proposed amendment has one or more subjects is now up to Secretary of State Michael Howe.

Howe’s office says that Measure 1 will go into effect on July 24.

However, they also say that measures slated for the General Election were approved prior to the passage and not impacted by the new requirement.

That would mean the new amendment would not affect the free school lunches issue on the November ballot.

But questions remain on how this will impact future amendments going forward.

“There’s not a lot of definition in the measure about, exactly, what one topic means,” said MSUM Political Science Professor Barbara Headrick. “So the secretary of state is going to have some leeway, and you can probably expect some court challenges on some things in the future, when it comes up.”

The Secretary of State’s office has yet to respond to our questions on what constitutes a single subject.