FARGO – Ed Schafer, a former North Dakota governor, has launched a campaign to defeat Constitutional Measure 2, a ballot question proposed by the state Legislature that would create new restrictions on the state’s ballot initiative process.

“Measure 2 is a three-pronged attack on our state’s ballot initiative process that would make it far more difficult for North Dakotans to write, qualify, and pass constitutional amendments in the future,” said Schafer in a news release. “The people of North Dakota have proven that they can be trusted to make responsible decisions at the ballot box, which is why Measure 2 is unnecessary.”

According to the release, Schafer will be working with a newly formed group, the Voter Defense Association of North Dakota, which plans to campaign against Measure 2 while also building an organization capable of opposing future attempts by the Legislature to restrict the ballot initiative process in North Dakota.

“The ballot initiative process is an important check on the power of politicians in our state,” Schafer said. “It’s important that we preserve it for future generations of North Dakotans.”

Measure 2 would make three significant changes to the rules governing constitutional ballot initiatives. It would create new subject matter restrictions when drafting an initiative. It would increase the number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot, and it would require each constitutional initiative to be approved on both a primary and general election ballot.

“There is no other state in the country that requires a ballot initiative to be approved at both the primary and general elections,” Schafer said. “We should not be trying to fix a problem that does not exist.”

The North Dakota Legislature placed Measure 2 on the ballot this year after passing SCR 4013, the culmination of three years of debate following the failure of a similar proposal in 2020. That measure – also, by coincidence, named Measure 2 – was another legislatively-referred ballot question that would have significantly changed the process for passing constitutional ballot initiatives, the release stated.

“Just four years ago, the Legislature proposed a major change to the initiative process and it was resoundingly rejected by 62% of voters,” Schafer said. “In my opinion, making North Dakotans vote again on a proposal that restricts the people’s voice is an overreach by the Legislature.”

After two terms as governor of North Dakota from 1992 to 2000, Schafer served as the 29th United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2008 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He also served as interim president of the University of North Dakota in 2016.