VIEWPOINT | Raising constitutional vote threshold is power grab disguised as reform

Guest column by Charlie Johnson, a farmer and Dakota Rural Action member, and Doug Sombke, President of South Dakota Farmers Union

Charlie Johnson (left) and Doug Sombke

Last week Rep. John Hughes extolled the virtues of raising the voter approval threshold for constitutional amendments. He claimed that House Joint Resolution 5003 is necessary to protect us from both the transient political influences of a bare majority and the large influx of out-of-state money that gets enmeshed with our elections.

However, HJR 5003 fails to address these points. The bill, which ironically would be able to pass with only a simple majority, would raise the voter approval threshold to 60 percent. The bill doesn’t place any limits on the approval threshold required by the legislature to place constitutional amendments on the ballot. Are legislators not equally subject to transient political influences and whims? Does out-of-state money only flow into the state for ballot issue questions? We’re sure if we perused the list of registered lobbyists, we would find plenty that represent interests from outside the state’s borders.