South Dakota voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would establish a 60% supermajority requirement in order for voters to approve new constitutional amendments. This amendment will appear on the ballot on Nov. 3, 2026.
When it comes to ballot measures, a supermajority requirement sets a higher approval threshold, requiring more than a simple majority of voters to pass a measure.
Of the 49 states that provide for legislatively referred constitutional amendments, 11 states require a supermajority vote or other threshold for approval. In some states, supermajority requirements are also applied to specific ballot measure topics, such as tax increases, lotteries, or changing vote requirements.
If approved by voters, the South Dakota amendment would change the threshold to approve new constitutional amendments from a simple majority (50.01%) to a supermajority of 60%.
The amendment, House Joint Resolution 5003 (HJR 5003), was referred to the South Dakota ballot by the state legislature. The House of Representatives voted 61-5 on Jan. 22 to approve the amendment, while the State Senate voted 29-4 on March 10 to approve the amendment. In the House, 60 Republicans and one Democrat supported the amendment while five Democrats opposed it. In the Senate, 29 Republicans supported the amendment while two Democrats and two Republicans opposed it.
Two states have a 60% supermajority requirement to approve constitutional amendments—Florida and Illinois. In 2006, Florida voters approved Amendment 3, which changed the supermajority requirement to approve constitutional amendments from a simple majority to a supermajority of 60%. Since Florida’s supermajority vote requirement was enacted in 2006, there have been 13 constitutional amendments on the ballot that received a majority vote (50.01%) in favor but were defeated since they did not achieve a 60% supermajority vote. In the 2024 general election, this included Amendment 3, which would have legalized marijuana for adult use in Florida, and Amendment 4, which would have provided the constitutional right to an abortion. In Illinois, for a constitutional amendment to be approved, it must win a supermajority vote of 60% of those voting on the question or a majority of those who cast a ballot for any office in that election.
South Dakota voters previously decided on a ballot measure in 2022, Amendment C, which would have established a 60% supermajority requirement for ballot measures that would have increased taxes or fees. Voters rejected the amendment, with 32.57% voting for it and 67.43% voting against it.
State Sen. Tim Reed, who voted for the 2026 amendment, said, “This happened in the past couple years again … Not disagreeing with where the problems can be, but I think we have to realize that this is something that the people want. Let’s go ahead and put it on the ballot, if you want, but I think you’re gonna find that this is something that the people really want.”
Ballotpedia tracked 26 ballot measures related to supermajority requirements between 1912 and 2024. Twelve measures were approved, and 14 measures were defeated. The last time voters decided on a statewide measure to create a supermajority requirement was in Ohio, when voters rejected Issue 1, which would have also established a 60% supermajority requirement for new constitutional amendments.
The South Dakota amendment will join three other amendments referred by the state legislature on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot.
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