[Footnote B: Dodd, W.F. Revision and Amendment of State
Constitutions.]
A majority vote is required by the constitution of Indiana that is so
extravagant as to have caused contradictory decisions in the courts.
The constitution reads: "The General Assembly ... (shall) submit such
amendment ... to the electors of the state, and if a majority of said
electors shall ratify." This was interpreted in one case (156 Ind.
104) to mean a majority of all votes cast at the election, but in a
later case (in re Denny) it was taken, exactly as it reads, to mean
all the people in the State eligible to vote--and this in the face of
the fact that the number of people eligible to vote is unknown even
to the Federal Census Department. Indiana also requires that while one
amendment is under consideration no other can be introduced. She is,
needless to say, one of the states whose constitution has never been
amended.
Other states besides Indiana have time requirements to insure the
immutability of their inspired state document.
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