]
[Footnote B: In Connecticut, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont by a
two-thirds majority of one Legislature or of one house or both; in
Iowa, Indiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, New
Jersey, New York and Rhode Island by majorities. All but the last
three have biennial Legislatures.] referendum not by a majority on
the amendment but by a majority of all voting for candidates at this
general election.[A]
[Footnote A: These states are Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Tennessee. Rhode
Island sets a definite majority (three-fifths) of those voting at the
election. Probably Texas and North Carolina should be included but the
amendment clause in their constitutions is misleading and they may
be given the benefit of the doubt; their clause reads: "An amendment
shall be submitted to the voters and adopted by a majority of the
votes cast."]
This requirement by itself is regarded by one authority on state
constitutions[B] as making amendment practically impossible for it
means that the indifference and inertia of the mass of the voters can
be a more serious enemy than active opposition; the man who does not
take the trouble to vote is as much to be feared as the man who votes
against.
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