State Constitutional Amendments Considered

This list of proposed constitutional amendments was originally compiled by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, and has been augmented with links to the original ballot language. The list can be sorted by year, and by whether the amendments were accepted or rejected.

Since statehood, 213 proposed constitutional amendments have been voted on by the electorate and 120 of them have been adopted.

The ratification process for constitutional amendments changed in 1898, as described in the 2023-2024 Minnesota Legislative Manual by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State:

"From 1858 until 1898, the Minnesota Constitution required that a proposed amendment be approved by a simple majority of both chambers of the legislature and then ratified by a simple majority of the voters at the next general election."

"In 1898, the Constitution was amended, changing the standards for approving a constitutional amendment. Since that point, a constitutional amendment must be approved by a simple majority of both chambers of the legislature at one session, and then ratified by a majority of voters in an election. For an amendment to pass it must receive a majority of all votes cast in the election, therefore not voting on an amendment is the same as a 'no' vote. (Article IX, Section 1 of the Constitution of Minnesota). The following table may indicate that more votes were cast to approve an amendment than the votes cast to reject the amendment, but the amendment may still have failed because a majority of all voters at the election did not cast a 'yes' vote. (The total election vote figures set forth below for 1858 through 1898 are for historical information only.)"

For more information on the amendment process and analysis of Minnesota constitutional amendments, see:

• Amending Our State Constitution: Continuity Through Ordered Change. Betty Kane. Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1981.
• Minnesota Constitutional Amendments: History and Legal Principles. Matt Gehring. House Research, 2013.
• State Constitutional Amendments. Matt Gehring. House Research, 2019.
• Legislative Approval of Proposed Constitutional Amendments (1894-2013) House Research, 2013.
• Constitutional Amendments Data. Data compiled by the Minnesota Secretary of State, Minnesota House Research, and the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, 2013. (Spreadsheet can be downloaded from House Research.)

For information on amending the U.S. Constitution, see: 

• United States Constitutional Amendments: Minnesota’s Legislative History.  Matt Gehring.  House Research, 2016.  (The tables from the report, including additional data, are also available.)