South Dakota Amendment L, also known as the 60% Vote Requirement for Constitutional Amendments Measure, is an legislatively referred constitutional amendment that will appear on the ballot in the U.S. state of South Dakota on November 3, 2026, concurrent with the 2026 United States elections.
Background House vote on HJR 5003 Jan 22,2025 Party Total votes Republican Democratic Yea 60 1 61 Nay 0 5 5 No vote 3 0 3Result: Representative Party District Vote D 26th–A Nay R 21st Excused D 10th Nay R 7th Excused R 27th Excused D 15th Nay D 27th Yea D 32nd Nay D 15th Nay All other votes are Republican yeas.
Senate vote on HJR 5003 Mar 10,2025 Party Total votes Republican Democratic Yea 29 0 29 Nay 2 2 4 No vote 1 1 2Result: Senator Party District Vote D 27th Excused D 10th Nay R 1st Excused R 19th Nay D 10th Nay R 22nd Nay All other votes are Republican yeas. Currently in South Dakota, constitutional amendments can be placed on the ballot by the South Dakota Legislature. Voters can approve or reject amendments if the amendment reaches 50% of votes cast. Amendment L was first placed on the ballot after it was approved by the legislature in early 2025.
Impact If approved by voters, the threshold that amendments must reach to be approved would be raised from 50% to 60%.
Campaign The Voter Defense Association of South Dakota launched a campaign against the amendment in May 2025. The president of the organization argued that raising the threshold would weaken the ballot initiative process.
On June 8, 2026 a coalition of organizations launched a new ballot committee—L NO—to defeat Amendment L, the third such attempt by the SD Legislature to raise the amendment passage threshold since 2018. Both prior attempts to do so—in 2018 and 2022—failed, the latter by a 2-to-1 margin. The coalition ballot committee's website and reasoning can be reviewed at https://www.l-no.org.
Endorsements
References
External links South Dakota Constitutional Amendment L, 60% Vote Requirement for Constitutional Amendments Measure (2026). Ballotpedia.