Since March of 2025, Louisiana voters have rejected nine constitutional amendment proposals that appeared on two different ballots and nine more will be on the ballot in November. Melinda Deslatte with the Public Affairs Research Council says state lawmakers are not fazed by the voters’ recent lack of support for the amendments.
“We’ve now had two rounds of all of the amendments on a ballot in an election failing. But somehow, that didn’t slow down the pace of passing another round of new constitutional amendments,” Deslatte noted.
Louisiana’s constitution was approved in 1974; and since then, voters have been asked to amend the constitution 330 times. Voters have approved 221 changes. There was a grassroots effort to vote down all five constitutional amendments on the May 16th ballot. Deslatte says voters are suffering from constitutional amendment fatigue.
“The voters thought that, by rejecting constitutional amendments, it might send a signal that they don’t have to keep voting on these. They were horribly mistaken,” Deslatte said.
The most high-profile constitutional amendment on the November 3rd ballot is the proposal to limit governors to two elected terms as governor during their lifetimes. Deslatte says the other amendments run the gamut.
“Property tax breaks, eligibility for bail, the jurisdiction of Louisiana’s State Supreme Court, property expropriation; it’s a mix of issues all over the place,” Deslatte explained.
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