State Constitutions
Table 1.5
Constitutional Amendment Procedure: By Initiative, Constitutional Provisions
| State or other jurisdiction |
Number of signatures required on initiative petition |
Distribution of signatures |
Referendum vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 15% of total votes cast for all candidates for governor at last election. | None specified. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Arkansas | 10% of voters for governor at last election. | Must include 5% of voters for governor in each of 15 counties. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| California | 8% of total voters for all candidates for governor at last election. | None specified. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Colorado | 5% of total legal votes for all candidates for secretary of state at last general election. | 2% of registered voters in each of the state senate districts. | 55% vote on amendment, except any amendment repealing a constitutional provision only requires a majority vote on amendment. |
| Florida | 8% of total votes cast in the state in the last election for presidential electors. | 8% of total votes cast in each of 1/2 of the congressional districts. | Three-fifths vote on amendment except any amendment for “new state tax or fee” not in effect Nov. 7, 1994 requires 2/3 of voters voting in election. |
| Illinois (a) | 8% of total votes cast for candidates for governor at last election. | None specified. | Majority voting in election or 3/5 voting on amendment. |
| Massachusetts (b) | 3% of total votes cast for governor at preceding biennial state election (not less than 25,000 qualified voters). | No more than 1/4 from any one county. | Majority vote on amendment which must be 30% of total ballots cast at election. |
| Michigan | 10% of total voters for all candidates at last gubernatorial election. | Distribution requirement invalidated by Jan. 2022 state supreme court ruling. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Mississippi (c)(d) | 12% of total votes for all candidates for governor in last election. | No more than 20% from any one congressional district. | Majority vote on amendment and not less than 40% of total vote cast at election. |
| Missouri | 8% of legal voters for all candidates for governor at last election. | The 8% must be in each of 2/3 of the congressional districts in the state. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Montana | 10% of qualified electors, the number of qualified voters to be determined by number of votes cast for governor in preceding election in each county and in the state. | The 10% to include at least 10% of qualified voters in 2/5 of the legislative districts. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Nebraska | 10% of registered voters. | The 10% must include 5% in each of 2/5 of the counties. | Majority vote on amendment which must be at least 35% of total vote at the election. |
| Nevada | 10% of voters who voted in entire state in last general election. | 10% of voters in each of the state's congressional districts. | Majority vote on amendment in two consecutive general elections. |
| North Dakota | 4% of population of the state. | None specified. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Ohio | 10% of total number of electors who voted for governor in last election. | At least 5% of qualified electors in each of 1/2 of counties in the state. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Oklahoma | 15% of votes cast at last general election for governor. | None specified. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| Oregon | 8% of total votes for all candidates for governor at last election at which governor was elected for four-year term. | None specified. | Majority vote on amendment except for supermajority equal to supermajority voting requirement contained in proposed amendment. |
| South Dakota | 10% of total votes for governor in last election. | None specified. | Majority vote on amendment. |
| No. Mariana Islands | 50% of qualified voters of commonwealth. | In addition, 25% of qualified voters in each senatorial district. | Majority vote on amendment if legislature approved it by majority vote; if not, at least 2/3 vote in each of two senatorial districts in addition to a majority vote. |
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Source: John Dinan and The Council of State Governments.
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Footnotes:
| (a) | Initiatives can only be used to amend substantive or procedural aspects of Article IV, the Legislature Article, and cannot be used to amend any other articles. |
| (b) | Before being submitted to the electorate for ratification, initiated measures must be approved at two sessions of a successively elected legislature by not less than one-fourth of all members elected, sitting in joint session. |
| (c) | Before being submitted to the electorate, initiated measures are sent to the legislature, which has the option of submitting an amended or alternative measure alongside of the original measure. |
| (d) | In a May 2021 ruling featuring a challenge to an initiated amendment approved by voters in 2020 legalizing medical marijuana, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that the initiative process is invalid in Mississippi and can no longer be used, because the constitutional provision creating the initiative process requires signatures to be distributed among five congressional districts, but Mississippi now has only four congressional districts, thereby rendering the initiative process unusable until the constitutional provision is amended. |